MSE News: Financial education in schools would have helped us, Britons say

Catriona_P

I left school in the early 2000's to go to university - we of my generation were ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED to get ourselves into debt in order to study for a degree. We were told that a few thousand pounds worth of debt from our undergrad degrees would be nothing in comparison to the mega bucks we'd be earning as a result. If only we'd known what a total and utter lie that was and how far we were sold down the river.

Maybe if we'd had 'money management' classes we would have seen it for what it was, but I somehow doubt it would have suited government policy at the time. I agree with jgriggle that sometimes it suits those up top for us to be financially illiterate.

Dunroamin

If financial education has the same effect on young people's finances as sex education has had on the teenagepregnancy rate - heaven help us!

Dunroamin

Derivative wrote: »

I think you've missed the point somewhat.

I am a Physics undergraduate and use trigonometry and algebra enough that I consider it more natural than speaking English.
It is certainly important. (Trigonometry less so than algebra - algebra is required for trig).

However, everyone of sound mind will have to manage a budget at some point in their lives.
If we're optimistic, less than half will ever encounter the cosine rule.
To be frank - it's likely even I'll never see it again given the career path I'd like to follow.

Given limited teaching time, something has to give.

But you might need a crystal ball to know who's in which half.;)

Financial education shouldn't be introduced at the expense of the already sadly depleted Maths syllabus.

Derivative

Dunroamin wrote: »

But you might need a crystal ball to know who's in which half.

Yes, but you don't need a crystal ball to know who's in the 100%.

It seems obvious to me that educating someone in something that will definitely be important, no matter what they do in life (other than joining some sort of non-capitalist society), should take precedence over something they merely 'may' use.

I'm not necessarily condoning stripping Maths out, but something has to give somewhere. Arguably financial education is at least as important as, say, food preparation - is this still in schools?

Dunroamin

Derivative wrote: »

Yes, but you don't need a crystal ball to know who's in the 100%.

It seems obvious to me that educating someone in something that will definitely be important, no matter what they do in life (other than joining some sort of non-capitalist society), should take precedence over something they merely 'may' use.

I'm not necessarily condoning stripping Maths out, but something has to give somewhere. Arguably financial education is at least as important as, say, food preparation - is this still in schools?

You could just as well argue that you need to teach text speak rather than formal English because everybody's going to text whereas not everybody's going to need to be able to write a formal letter.

I don't know how many schools offer "food prep" but this seems to me to be a strange subject to pick as optional because, by your own definition, 100% of students are going to eat.

Person_one

Isn't this the sort of thing that would fit into PHSE or whatever its called these days rather than maths lessons?

bylromarha

Went on a teaching course today in a secondary school.

The conference room we met in had loads of kids work up on Tax, VAT, Best price, Price matching, Comparisons for deals.

The room was rather full, so I didn't want to be stared at for taking a piccy of their work, but I can assure you Kelkoo and co were mentioned, and a great explanation too of VAT.

Like I said, schools have been teaching this stuff to a greater or lesser extent for years.

Whether their pupils choose to act on the information or not is another matter - as with all things in the classroom, the theory in the room makes no difference until you practically experience it for yourself.

Dunroamin

bylromarha wrote: »

Went on a teaching course today in a secondary school.

The conference room we met in had loads of kids work up on Tax, VAT, Best price, Price matching, Comparisons for deals.

The room was rather full, so I didn't want to be stared at for taking a piccy of their work, but I can assure you Kelkoo and co were mentioned, and a great explanation too of VAT.

Like I said, schools have been teaching this stuff to a greater or lesser extent for years.

Whether their pupils choose to act on the information or not is another matter - as with all things in the classroom, the theory in the room makes no difference until you practically experience it for yourself.

That's great but it often seems to be about buying stuff rather than being about not buying stuff, which seems to me to be at least as important.

bylromarha

Dunroamin wrote: »

That's great but it often seems to be about buying stuff rather than being about not buying stuff, which seems to me to be at least as important.

Not sure how long you could drag out "don't buy stuff if you can't afford it" :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Or how long that poster would last in a secondary school

Or how much stick the creator of the poster would have to take about being poor and a skank for choosing to tell other people to save, then buy.

Personal responsibility and self control extends to so much more than money - a lot of debt is amassed because people have little control over their desires and have been led to believe in their sense of entitlement.

Financial education on the curriculum is never going to cure that root problem.

Dunroamin

bylromarha wrote: »

Not sure how long you could drag out "don't buy stuff if you can't afford it" :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Or how long that poster would last in a secondary school

Or how much stick the creator of the poster would have to take about being poor and a skank for choosing to tell other people to save, then buy.

Personal responsibility and self control extends to so much more than money - a lot of debt is amassed because people have little control over their desires and have been led to believe in their sense of entitlement.

Financial education on the curriculum is never going to cure that root problem.

All of which illustrates exactly how important the subject it and how it's far more vital than learning about buying stuff on credit. As you say, nobody's likely to be prepared to address the root of the problems, the rest is just papering over the cracks.