Should money matters be taught in school?

Cleaver

StevieJ wrote: »

Strangely they appear to be the best schools

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/faith-schools-a-law-unto-themselves-803978.html

Don't get me on my soapbox, I'm not very good at it.

shaven-monkey

Ingsy wrote: »

1. If you had the power, would you introduce teaching money management in schools?
2. If yes, at what age and, more importantly, how exactly would you do it?

1. Absolutely not.
2. Teaching people about the system in which they live would break the system and remove a huge advantage enjoyed by people in the form of corporations. Next you'll be trying to teach children that their personal information is an asset for which they should receive fair payment or control of dissemination.
If people realised and understood how the global economy worked, they'd lose all confidence and find alternatives.

Cleaver

Sultana wrote: »

Mine had at least a couple of sessions on personal finance in Year 10 PSHE. My son was the one who explained the difference between secured & unsecured loans to the rest of the class.. And they got info on employment law/rights as part of their work experience programme.

My work experience was spent planting trees on a nature reserve with 12 guys who were on community service. Didn't learn anything on employment law but did learn how to roll a cigarette and tips on how to avoid prison.

It's probably best that times have changed.

beecher

vivatifosi wrote: »

In my family we were never taught about it and there are plenty of my relatives suffering as a result. If you only get 1 in 10 kids taking it on board from these homes we'd still be significantly better off as a society.

I like the Royal Society Christmas Lectures format, it must be possible to design something like that which is portable, practical and above all fun that can go from school to school and make learning about finance memorable.

I just think it isn't something which can be 'taught' as our attitudes to money are more to do with our upbringing and attitude to risk.

I'm also not sure what the point is when we send our pupils out to university, knowing that they'll be saddled with debt by doing so. This makes the 'debt is normal' argument very difficult to counter. It'll take a cultural change to make our relationship with money change and education is only a small part of it.

Mini_Bear

Shouldnt parents take some responsibility in educating their children in spending and saving money?
Im lucky i come from a family of savers and my dad told me all about nasty credit cards and unsecured loans when i was 14 i think!
I do however think money matters should be encorporated into school but with more young people going to university i think it should be focused on budgetting and planning for uni. Perhaps taught from the age of 14 - when many kids get their first little jobs?

stephen163

I don't think schools should exhibit any religious connotations. But then, your view on this would probably depend on which side of the religious fence you fall. It must be really weird for children to have a lesson on the absolute creation of heaven, earth and all god's creatures in first period, followed by a lesson on darwinian evolution second period.

To keep this relevant, let's assume third period is a lesson on personal finance.

Laughing_man

The real question, imo, is why isn't it taught currently?

Check out the arithmatic section on this exam for 8th graders (prob 13-15yrs) from 1895!

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

lesley1960

Also how to cook and manage a home on a budget .

obsessed_saver

I think the question is not whether we should teach children about money, but more importantly, what to teach them, and *how* to teach.

I kinda imagine more story telling in the beginning to the younger ones. Like "Peter and Jane goes to the shop".

Maths is not the be-all, end-all to money management. Maths is just a tool, like a saw or a hammer. If you don't know how to apply a saw or a hammer to make something, it would be useless.

Cleaver

obsessed_saver wrote: »

I think the question is not whether we should teach children about money, but more importantly, what to teach them, and *how* to teach.

I kinda imagine more story telling in the beginning to the younger ones. Like "Peter and Jane goes to the shop".

Does the story end with Peter and Jane finding the shop shut due to the chain in question going in to administration?