Do you think that the only students that would take financial studies would be nerds and or kids that excel in mathamatics? The rest of us dummies should just focus on English, Social Studies and Science class. " Finance is for adults and we are just kids, we dont have money ". I fear the dummies in some cases may be the gate keepers: those deciding what our kids do and do not learn before they don a cap and gown and walk across the stage. Some provinces will put the kids first and are actively integrating financial education into their curriculum. But if you don’t live in BC, Manitoba or Ontario, financial literacy was NOT important enough to make the cut. Your kids don’t need to learn about money, they can learn by osmosis…I guess?It seems to me that the resistance to financial education entering the classroom seems to be more political than it should be. A teacher raised me, and I know someone who is supposed to educate doesn’t like to admit there is something they don’t know about, especially something they likely feel they should know about. But that should have nothing to do with what’s best for our kids or our country. The teachers do NOT have the tools they need to teach kids about money. But, with some input from the finance sector, people who actually work with people and their money, teachers could become Financial Education Super Heroes! If we could just collectively acknowledge that the evidence clearly shows most people could use some improvement in financial literacy, and if we do need to learn about money we are NOT stupid or bad, we could actually get somewhere. We can change this, but it has to be important enough for us to make some noise about. So if you would like your children to graduate to become financially independent beings who are not held hostage by their money, please send this post to every educator you know! One little peck at a time and the wall between us, our children and the mystery that is finance will come tumbling down. I’m have the background (25 years) to design a course for our kids in the area. This could be a certificate course that will give our kids the tools to understand debt, taxation, insurance and the importance of savings. I am currently working with our local school board regarding their plan for financial education.
Dave Shortill President Family Integrity Corporation
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.... - John Lennon
