Why isn't money taught in schools?

[Yankees338]

Good thread. I agree with everyone who's stated that they're just grooming employees.

However, I wouldn't be a part of this forum or as enlightened about the world of investing if it wasn't for one of my teachers. I had his two years in a row for Intro to Business and then Entrepreneurship. While both classes just taught the very basics, they still offered something of value such as balance sheets and income statements as well as how to balance a checkbook. My teacher was a very cool guy, probably the nicest teacher in the school. He was extremely laid back and didn't discipline like many other teachers. I doubt this was his intent, but I think that attitude helped encourage an entrepreneurial mentality as opposed to the disciplined worker mentality. Anyway, he recommended we all read Rich Dad, Poor Dad at the beginning of our Entrepreneurship course. I was probably the only student who followed his recommendations, but I'm surely glad I did. Since the classes were electives, most people didn't care about them. Those that did only did so because they were "good students". I truly enjoyed the classes because they actually offered quite a bit of useful info for what I intended on doing.

This year (I'm now a Junior in High School), I'm taking AP Economics. It's a college level course, but it covers both micro- and macro-economics. So far, it seems like the kids taking this class with me are just doing it for grades (AP classes are weighted and help GPA). I do it for the learning itself and because it interests me, but it seems like I'm getting more toward the analytical side of things, which encourages more of a job path.


This is semi-unrelated, but yesterday, as my history class was ending, one of my friends whipped out his iPhone. This class was a standard class and most of my friends in it who I was with are the "popular kids with money", so they're mainly not too motivated in school. They like to joke around and have a good time. Anyway, when he took out his iPhone, he went online and the first thing that popped up were stock quotes. This lead to a discussion about stock investing with about 3 friends of mine and myself. They were talking about how they had actually invested in a few stocks, which truly shocked me, and we actually wound up having a pretty good discussion about it. I was really surprised to hear that such things interested them.

Btw, I live in a very affluent town and community where most people reside in the upper class. Therefore, they learn a lot of this from their parents who invest or own a business. Anyway, I found this very interesting. Hope you all did too.

 

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[andviv]

BTW, Sharon Lechter (co-founder/co-author of Rich Dad series) is VERY active in the school sector. Not to name drop (but I will), I had a long lunch with her this past weekend and she has some really cool programs for kids in the works. But, she's not doing it through curriculum as much as going after the other organizations and parents for support. That helps the kids whose parents are paying attention, which is significant. It still leaves a growing segment of kids whose parents aren't involved much in their lives.

I've been curious about what Sharon Lechter is up to now that she is not longer with Cashflow Technologies. I know that this was 'the' topic for her, and I'd like to know more about what she is working on. That is also a fascinating topic for me. the website http://www.richkidsmartkid.com/ is one of my favorites, and my 5 yr old likes to play with Jesse the rat and the ice cream shop. I can understand why she is avoiding the official curriculum as many parents would kill the idea right away, so it makes sense to work with those parents that do care about this.

Diane, any way that you know to get more information about what she is doing?

 

[WheelsRCool]

It's been moved.

Oh... and just for the fun of it, here is one more quote. This was the first mission statement of John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board.




Ok. I'll climb off my soapbox before I really get going!!!

AroundTheWorld is dead-on, the school system was designed specifically to produce dumbed-down workers. A very interesting paradox is we (America) would likely not be the global economic power we are today without said school system. We'd probably look more like an oversized Switzerland if we truly educated everyone. Our economy also would look different because people, being so much smarter, and thus more fiscally-conservative, wouldn't spend so much money via taking on debt. If everyone became fiscally-conservative in this country right now, it would likely crash the economy.

Anyone who wants to really delve into this subject, a really good book is The Underground Guide to American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling by John Taylor Gatto, former New York City and New York State Teacher of the Year. This book will lead you into reading many, many others!

However, gone are the days of industry in this country with dumb workers who worked a lifetime at one company and relied on a pension and Social Security for their retirement. These days it's a knowledge economy, and people are thus a lot more intelligent. They are aware that Social Security will likely not be there for them, that there won't be any pensions like there used to be, and also they are less loyal, changing jobs more frequently these days.

Our educational system may have done America well with regards to making it a global economic superpower in the 20th century, but this is the 21st, and we need knowledgeable people now. The school system these days is undermining this, so there is a lot of opportunity to fill in this void via private businesses IMO that can teach things like financial education and so forth.

As for the school system itself trying to produce smart students, I doubt that will happen much. Stupid students, or "Special Education" students are a goldmine for the school system, worth like 4X as much as regular students. By labeling students "Special Education," placing them into the Special Education program (which means you graduate without having to do or learn anything), produces massive numbers of incredibly stupid students graduating high school, which allows the school officials to say, "SEE! This is a big problem! There for some reason are too many stupid students! We need more money to fix this problem!:smx4: :coco:"

As such, I highly doubt the schools will take action to actually try and produce smart students.

Yankees, in my school they also gave us in Economics the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," and I (and one other student) were also the only ones to read it Those other students don't realize what they're missing.

 

[Rawr]

Upon further considering this issue, I will admit that there are pros to this system. Those who stay in it work for those who think outside out it. Those who reject it, remove the veil and are not defined by it are nothing without people who surrender to it, obey it and live within the rules it provides.

That is why respect shall be given to every profession, every man and every contributing member - there are bad jobs that have to be done, and people who do them by choice, forced or not, things are accomplished.

 

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[WheelsRCool]

High school education grew the fastest in the 1920s... due to demand for higher skilled labor.
Question is, why SHOULDN'T the education system turn out employees? Why SHOULDN'T it promote employee values? After all, look at what it has brought, a good living standard for the average person who follows the cirriculum. It's great to be an investor but it's ridiculous to think that everyone can be a savvy investor(then the economic benefit would be minimal.) You might say that people have their retirements tied to their investments, but they're not really investors as we would call them on this forum.

Why is it ridiculous to think everyone can be a savvy investor? Or an entrepreneur? What it leads to is a weak, needy population.

Also the government should have no right to force people to attend a school system that dummies them down for the "greater good." This country was founded on individualism, the concept of the individual, the self-reliance of the individual, etc...government has no right to force people to attend compulsory schooling to dummy them down to supply industry.

Also, allowing people to educate their own children and having people more self-reliant and of better intellect would not have resulted in people just trying to survive via investments, but by starting a lot more small businesses, whether it be blue-collar workers starting their own businesses, or professionals, such as accountants, doctors, lawyers,

Big business would still survive, it just likely would've been less, because labor, being in shorter supply (theoreticallly), would have cost more. Since labor would have costed more, there would have been a lot of incentive for people to go into such labor for the high pay, and the laws of supply and demand would likely have balanced out the pay without the need for unions to do so.

Most people likely would've been more content to run a small business or practice, but those who wanted to start a big business and become very wealthy still would've been able to; if it was an industrial business, they still would've had to pay people higher salaries due to there likely being less such workers.

With more such workers as we had from the school system, they still had to pay higher salaries ultimately because of unions. To avoid unionization of his factory, Henry Ford even had started the $5 dollar work day.

So I mean a lower supply of labor I doubt would've stopped people from starting and growing bigger businesses. If there is a low supply of labor, it costs more naturally, and creates incentive for people to become laborers for the pay. If the supply is very high and you pay them low amounts, they organize and unionize, thus forcing high pay (that's how I see it).

And the educational system wasn't just designed to pump out employees, industry wanted dumb, needy-minded employees, because a smart, resourceful, self-reliant employee can easily start a strike, which industry didn't want.

Ultimately, the leaders of industry really wanted a return to the old British class system, with a working-class proletariat who were taught via school to accept their position in life and given very little education, and the businesses run and built by a knowledgeable upper-class.

 

[thecoach]

However, gone are the days of industry in this country with dumb workers who worked a lifetime at one company and relied on a pension and Social Security for their retirement. These days it's a knowledge economy, and people are thus a lot more intelligent. They are aware that Social Security will likely not be there for them,

I work in the financial industry and I completely disagree with this statement. Maybe it's something that is just with the area I live in, but I would say that more than 60% of the people that I meet with think that the governement will take care of them when they get old and most have no clue what is even in their pension (or any of their group benefits). Even though we are in an advanced and generally more educated society, there are A LOT of ignorant/un-knowledgable people out there that aren't educated in how to survive financially.




Just as a general reply to the posts, I thought I was doing something noble possibly creating a program for students to become more educated on how to be truly successful and not just settle for a J.O.B.. I didn't think about how our whole economy might collapse doing it becuase we wouldn't have any more 'dumbed down workers'. I guess it's like the old saying "too many cheifs and not enough indians means nothing gets done". I better kybosh this idea or I won't have anyone to work for me once I become a full on business owner...haha.

 

[WheelsRCool]

I work in the financial industry and I completely disagree with this statement. Maybe it's something that is just with the area I live in, but I would say that more than 60% of the people that I meet with think that the governement will take care of them when they get old and most have no clue what is even in their pension (or any of their group benefits). Even though we are in an advanced and generally more educated society, there are A LOT of ignorant/un-knowledgable people out there that aren't educated in how to survive financially.

Can't argue that, if that's true though, that's not a good thing!

Just as a general reply to the posts, I thought I was doing something noble possibly creating a program for students to become more educated on how to be truly successful and not just settle for a J.O.B.. I didn't think about how our whole economy might collapse doing it becuase we wouldn't have any more 'dumbed down workers'. I guess it's like the old saying "too many cheifs and not enough indians means nothing gets done". I better kybosh this idea or I won't have anyone to work for me once I become a full on business owner...haha.

AH, if that's sarcasm, then cool your heels mate, the economy isn't going to collapse. What you are doing is plenty noble IMO, and there will always be plenty of people to work for you, especially these days.

 

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[thecoach]

haha....I don't think the economy would completely collapse, that was just a bit of a smart a$$ remark I guess, but I never did think about how there is an important role in society for 'dumb' people.

 

[Runum]

Also the government should have no right to force people to attend a school system that dummies them down for the "greater good." This country was founded on individualism, the concept of the individual, the self-reliance of the individual, etc...government has no right to force people to attend compulsory schooling to dummy them down to supply industry.

Also, allowing people to educate their own children and having people more self-reliant and of better intellect would not have resulted in people just trying to survive via investments, but by starting a lot more small businesses, whether it be blue-collar workers starting their own businesses, or professionals, such as accountants, doctors, lawyers,

Huh? The government does not require anyone to attend the public schools so far as I know. Around here parents have the choice of public, private, or home schooling. Education is what you and your parents make of it. Actually, as a public school teacher, it would thrill me if many parents would choose to home school their children. Perhaps then the parents can see how difficult it is to try to educate their offspring and develop an appreciation for those who try.

Also, before we continue to bash the education system, who taught you how to read, write, and cipher? Public school teachers? I do admit there are problems in the system. However, the education system is a reflection of politicians, lawmakers, and society and the demands they place on it. Some examples are, now we have to teach character education because kids do not seem to know right from wrong. We also have to feed the kids a well balanced meal(great!) and there can be no snacks(boo!) so that we can offset their sedentary lifestyles and the massive amounts of Big Macs they consume while not at school. We also have to have students that have the mental capacity, due to cognitive problems, of a first grader to take and pass state and federally mandated fifth grade tests due to No Child Left Behind. Teachers are low man on the totem pole of the education system. We are told what to do and when. Most of this direction comes directly from your elected representatives. WheelsRCool, if you don't like what you see in the education system, do what Coach is doing. Quit complaining and work toward positive solutions.:cheers:

 

[WheelsRCool]

Huh? The government does not require anyone to attend the public schools so far as I know. Around here parents have the choice of public, private, or home schooling. Education is what you and your parents make of it. Actually, as a public school teacher, it would thrill me if many parents would choose to home school their children. Perhaps then the parents can see how difficult it is to try to educate their offspring and develop an appreciation for those who try.

Yes, but education is compulsory, whether it's through public, private, or homeschooling, the law still forces people to do it. People can homeschool, not everyone can afford private school though.

Also, before we continue to bash the education system, who taught you how to read, write, and cipher? Public school teachers? I do admit there are problems in the system. However, the education system is a reflection of politicians, lawmakers, and society and the demands they place on it. Some examples are, now we have to teach character education because kids do not seem to know right from wrong. We also have to feed the kids a well balanced meal(great!) and there can be no snacks(boo!) so that we can offset their sedentary lifestyles and the massive amounts of Big Macs they consume while not at school. We also have to have students that have the mental capacity, due to cognitive problems, of a first grader to take and pass state and federally mandated fifth grade tests due to No Child Left Behind. Teachers are low man on the totem pole of the education system. We are told what to do and when. Most of this direction comes directly from your elected representatives. WheelsRCool, if you don't like what you see in the education system, do what Coach is doing. Quit complaining and work toward positive solutions.:cheers:

Well yes the elected representatives do direct that stuff, but with great influence from the Teacher's Union. Elected representatives are important however as they appoint the Supreme Court Justices who can affect education, like when the Florida Supreme Court shot down voucher programs. I agree however, no point in complaining, best to just work to fix the problem.

 

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[CarrieW]

My mom was born in 1950. her mother wasnt schooled. she was older when she had my mother...

my grandmother barley could write her own name let alone read. how was she supposed to teach my mother anything... if not for the public school system i dont see how we (as a country)could have gotten this far.

My dad always told us growing up that school was a place to learn how to think. learn how to read and write and do arithmatic, once you learn that its basically up to you!

 

[thecoach]

I think maybe some clarity should be brought to this...it seems like people are bashing school in general, when everyone is somewhat arguing 2 different topics. Reading, writing, general mathimatical skills etc are taught in the elementary level and that's a great thing. Whether you are homeschooled, publicly schooled or privately schooled you will still be taught those basic skills. I don't think that there are very many problems with the elementary level of education (like k-6 or so). That's kind of your basics you need to get by in life. Everyone's 'problem' seems to be with the high school and beyond, where it doesn't teach you anything you need to survive, just how to get a good job.

I don't think the entire system is completely flawed as some may be leaning towards, there are just some gaps (or maybe gaping holes when they get older). I don't think the entire school system needs to be revamped, maybe just a couple tweeks at the older level, like adding some basic money management classes...make it a general beginners class, then make an advanced class where you must have taken the beginners to get it. Don't make it based on grade, make them open anyone 10-12 and the passing grade counts as a credit to whatever grade they are currently in.

When I was in high school they offered a Career Education class that just started hwen I Was in grade 12, where you would learn about different careers and job shadow different careers for a full day once a month or so. Part of our Canadian Studies course was to create a small business that would somehow benefit Canada in someway...don't know if that was part of the curriculum for everyone or if that was just a project our teacher did as part of the class. They seemed to dabble around the subject of what how the real world works, but it's never been fully integrated. on a regular basis.

 

[CarrieW]

as far as im concerned as a parent if my children learn those 3 things I will be happy....unless they went to a trade school program like we had available to us in my district. then id expect them to learn the trade.

I also agree with what you said about nothing beyond 6th grade is useful at all... thats why I dropped out of High school when I was 16 yrs old and started working full time. I had not learned 1 new useful thing from 7th grade on... after long division that was it. lol. oh and a little french. I did pass algebra but could never actually do it lol....and whats even more sad is I was in the highest level classes my school offered.

maybe its how ive always viewed the school system I dont know. It was always told to me go to school(graduate from h.s there were no collage students in my family prior to my generation.) and get a job. work pay your bills on time get good credit (oops lol) be loyal to a company and retire.

I figured it out at 16. well mostly. I figured everyone worked to pay their bills when you made more money you had more bigger bills. and the others were either very lucky, doing illegal things, or were born with a silver spoon in thier mouths. (my mother still thinks this is true.)

as college wasnt an option for me(I could have managed to go on my own but i saw no value in doing that) I figured why waste anymore time quit school and I went to work.

I was able to work in enviroments where most of the staff were college educated. I was the only person in 2 companies that didnt have a hs diploma and most everyone else had college degrees. and if they didnt they were clerks, in labor, or janitorial positions.

If not for me becoming pregnant and then disabled I would still be chugging along today.

I think the school system is fine for 90% people. its the 10% of us that need more from it that suffer IMO>

 

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[WheelsRCool]

My mom was born in 1950. her mother wasnt schooled. she was older when she had my mother...

my grandmother barley could write her own name let alone read. how was she supposed to teach my mother anything... if not for the public school system i dont see how we (as a country)could have gotten this far.

My dad always told us growing up that school was a place to learn how to think. learn how to read and write and do arithmatic, once you learn that its basically up to you!

During the early days of America, people pretty much knew how to educate themselves and their children. For example the book "The Last of the Mohicans" was a bestseller in the early 1800s. That is a confusing book to read, filled with politics, history, economics, etc...yet it was a bestseller in a nation of small, "uneducated" farmers.

During the mid to late 1800s I believe they measured about a 90-100% literacy rate in many of the states even.

The tradition of people educating their children stopped when school became compulsory. When it isn't compulsory, people continue to educate their children and themselves. For example, in Switzerland, I believe they do not even complete high school there (could be wrong though), but they have the highest per capita GDP income of any nation.

As for "getting this far," you are very correct. The United States of America might not have the "corporate utopia" we have right now, and might not be the big global economic, military, scientific, engineering, etc...leader that we are.

A society in which individualism and self-reliance are encouraged far more would likely have resulted in a completely different society:

1) Big business would have had to pay more for labor as it would have been in more short supply, because people wouldn't have had ingrained into their minds to just go work for someone else (though this idea of business having to pay more for labor may not necessarily be true because unions drove up the costs for business anyhow).

2) If far less people were working in industry, there'd have been less technological and scientific developments and so forth.

This can be argued though, because if labor was in too short a supply, it would have commanded a very good pay, which would have given even very individual-minded people enough incentive to go into it and become engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc...and the laws of supply and demand would balance things.

3) If people had been taught to be highly-educated, to think, to be self-reliant, and fiscally conservative, the country WOULD look different in a few ways! For one, our economy would not function on debt to the extent that it does. Americans buy things they cannot afford and when they CAN afford stuff, they buy more stuff they can't afford. This has thus resulted in an entire industry of financial services to help people with bad credit and made it easy to take on debt.

If people actually bought what they could afford, the economy would not be able to sell all the consumer products we have to people in the amount it does, because they would save up before buying them.

Also, and not getting political here at all, just stating a fact (not saying this fact is good or bad!) but I think we would likely not have seen the massive increase in government spending throughout the twentieth century that we've seen, and the massive increase in the size of government that happened, because when the entire population is very educated and self-reliant, they are usually suspicious of government programs because they know they have to be taxed to pay for them.

And when people are educated in things like history, economics, etc...they can see through politicians from a mile a way!

Furthermore, such self-reliant people tend to take a very active interest in politics I think, thus making it even more difficult for politicians to spend money and tax people moreso.

Thus our country, even if we were a scientific, engineering, economic, etc...powerhouse, the country would still look different than what it does now I think.

I'd imagine things like 1929 Stock Market crash and then Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War, etc...would've changed the country though, so it would've been interesting to see. For example, with a more educated, fiscally-conservative populace, would the 1929 crash even have happened?

Okay I am rambling now, interesting subject though

 

[CarrieW]

My grand mother was born in the late 1800's(she was over 50 when she had my mom my mothers siblings are 16-28 yrs older then her)

she did go to school but was pulled out to help the family survive when she was very young. she was sent to work and had to take care of the younger siblings she had.

this was in louisana sometime in the early 1900's(best as i can figure) from what i understand it wasnt uncommon for these types of things to happen and alot of the people it happened to ended up not being able to read well or write at all.

Sure there were people who could read. Id love to see the stat where it says 90-100% literacy rate in the 1800's becuase from what ive learned (thru my parents) it was very very common back when they were young (in the 50's and 60's)to have folks know nothing about reading and could barley write.

I dont even think the literacy rate is in the 90's-100's now in this country. hell in the school I didnt graduate from the literacy rate was far lower then that. in 1995!

as an adult I know personally at least 3 people (who are adults mind you)who cant read! and this is the 21st century!

 

[Runum]

Now I like the intelligent discussion on this thread, very analytical and positive. Even though it is very arcane, there are still people that remove their kids from school that claim they work in the fields They will also not enroll their kids until well after Labor Day due to "family circumstances". We have also had students that were taken out of school in early May and never transferred to another school. I have a hard time believing that the child's education is the foremost priority in those parent's lives.

I personally believe it is up to each parent to either educate or ensure the education of their children. When I mean ensure, I mean that the parents should keep current on what the students are learning. Your child's future is too valuable to entrust it without verification. If a parent blindly trusts the education system to teach their child it will be too late in the child's life when the parents find out the job wasn't done correctly. I am not saying that any failure of a child is totally the education system's fault. I have many elementary students that absolutely refuse to learn no matter how creative we get in trying to present information.

Great discussion.:cheers:

 

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[AJGlobal]

This is a great topic and thread. Speed for you !!!!!

My kids are 8 and 12 soon to be 9 and 13. I have already started in the past year or so with both of them (the 12 year old more than my 8 year old) on how to earn, save and spend thier money. I've also helped my 12 year old to manage what she's made. S

She see's the cars, and the houses and the money and is starting to understand that we all have to work to get what we need and want. For now we have taught her that if it is something that she needs, we will buy it for her if it is within reason. If not, we find something that still works that costs less. Now we are using our money to buy this for them but at least they are involved in the process of figuring out how to get what you need without having to spend the most amount of money.

Our 12 year olds income has bascially been babysitting her little brother so she has used that money to get her nails done, buy itunes cards, and even buy her own itouch, ipod. The funny thing is, she is figuring out what we will pay for and what she has to pay for then try to use that to her advantage by trying justify that she "NEEDS IT" so we should pay for it. .

My 8 year old is leaning by watching her but is still a little to young to see the importance of it all. He does make an effort however to be willing to work to make whatever little money he does earn. On the days he has a half day at school or no school at all he asks to come to the office with me so he can earn money, and I take him and give him simple tasks that keep him busy. making copies, organizing folders or just cleaning up around the office. The fact that he is willing gives him the advantage over all the other 8 year olds that have no clue. I honestly believe his willingness came about because of watching his sister and what we have taught the both of them.

Its a shame to hear that the schools who do offer this type of info have kids sleeping through the class.

 

[yveskleinsky]

Maybe 1 in 10 of the kids are going to have enough balls or have the aptitude to go into business on their own, so why not just teach the simple stuff that would apply to business and/or personal life, like budgeting, properly using credit and OPM, ways to reduce your monthly expenses (IE bank service charges, etc). Make it more of a practical hands on thing with some little check point exams for some of the material. Kind of a combination of the mentoring and the 'manditory classroom stuff'.

I couldn't agree with you more. I would love to be a part of some sort of lifeskills mentorship program. Hmmm...maybe we should start one!

 

[Yankees338]

One of the most negative things about school is peer pressure I think. Some people learn how to deal with it, others don't.

Eh...it has its moments. If my friends offer to do something I really don't want to do or shouldn't be doing, I can easily decline without fear of being forced into it. Of course, there are times when they don't take it as easily. I've never really had any problems saying "no" to something I don't want to do, though.

On the other hand, I go to a very competitive school. A lot of students here get pressured to do well and are very competitive with each other in terms of grades. That, too, has it's pros and cons.

 

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[WheelsRCool]

Yes Wheels, the 1929 crash would have happened I think.
In 1925, Germany was booming(only 600K unemployed, down from a few millions in 1923 I think) from loans from the US etc etc. Germans were widely known for being educated and so on(from "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"). And then...
I'm not sure if the populace was ever fiscally conservative. Remember the free silver movement? Interests not ideologies, determine stances.

That's a good point, the Germans were educated, however they did not seem to have the belief in individualism that Americans had. Our school system even was based off of the Prussian and German model. So I don't know if the educated Germans were educated regarding money or not. However, even if they were, booms in the economy can still make people act stupid. Many very respected financial folk were caught with their pants down when the tech bubble burst, for example. And the boom during the 1920s was a real boom.

I haven't read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" yet, I am just starting Hitler's "Mein Kempf," then I will move to the other book

 

[dino23]

didn't some one have a famous quote, "it takes a 6th grade education to be rich and calculus to be broke!"

i think buffet said it, i could be wrong.

i saw some comments about bashing schools. i'm for education. i think it's necessary(especally the basics). information applied is the difference between winning and losing in life. it needs to be the right information though. i cant tell you the countless number of subjects from high school and college that was wasted time. learning information that's not beneficial to me now. hey, maybe it's just me!

but, there are countless number of people who amassed great wealth w/o formal education.

i love the part in think and grow rich where it talked about mr. henry ford not having a formal education and how he signed is name with an "x." they tired to sue him over that too. another favorite is australian billionare peter daniels who described himself as "an Illiterate brick layer in his mid 20's" these guys accomplished their dreams and didnt let that lack of a formal education stop them.

you know there's people that feel like your nothing and you'll never be anything w/o that piece of paper.

 

[CarrieW]

you know there's people that feel like your nothing and you'll never be anything w/o that piece of paper.

Thank God Ive never had the displeasure to meet them!(I dont have even have a hs diploma)

I dont think theres one person who took the time to get to know me and looks down on me for that. I can say with great confidence I am smarter then the average bear(even ones with pieces of paper)

those are the same types of people that if they didnt have the degree would be in some specialized field wondering why everyone else in the world was so stupid for not knowing what they themselves know! like the auto-mechanics that try to rip off the women casue they dont think they know anything about cars ect...I could go on and on.

 

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[yveskleinsky]

If a person's goal is to be educated, then yes- go to college. If a person's goal is to be rich, well then there a lot of paths that lead to that end- an advanced college degree is generally the only way that people know how to become "successful".

As to why isn't money taught in schools- there are so many different theories on money mgmt, which one would be taught? The Suze Orman theory, or the Dave Ramsey or the Robert Kiyosaki? ...I think the curriculum would depend on the goals of the student, and Lord knows the public school system doesn't have the time (or teacher ratio) to meet one-on-one with students and create a lesson plan just for them.