I would like to thank Josh Kirlin for inviting me to speak at their meeting. I would also like to thank Jeff Fraser for bringing me to Josh's attention. I would also like to thank the Club Adviser Mr. Kent Scholz.
I am glad that Carroll has a Political Science Club and that Carroll High School students are learning about their government.
There were a lot of great questions; however, one sticks with me. A student asked if I was in favor of adding personal finance to the curriculum.
I actually am in favor of adding it to the curriculum of Carroll High School. Most Americans are piling up large and responsible debts. As soon as students graduate from high school they are deluged with credit card applications. I would hope that parents would educate their children about finances; however, many of the parents are not handling their own finances very well so I doubt that they are teaching their children about personal finance.
I believe that anytime you add something to the curriculum you have to remove something else from the curriculum. I am sure that the staff at Carroll can identify several programs that are not needed that can be removed to make room for personal finance.
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8 comments:
Okay, so YOU have an idea for an important piece to the curriculum and think something else can easily be eliminated. But that "something else" is an important piece to others and they will say it is definitely "needed." Just saying you think it's important doesn't make it so for everyone else.
You seem to place little trust in the parents. And you might be right, because after all, the government places little trust in them, that's why we have compulsory attendance laws. The parents are told that the government will educate their child for them and teach them what they need to know. So why should they concern themselves with personal finance, or any other subject? Isn't the government taking care of this for them?
Heck, one has to wonder how a government school could reliably teach personal finance given all the wasteful spending we see in education, as you so often point out on your blog. ;)
Of course someone will defend any program that someone else wants to remove Debbie, they always do... That does not mean that we should just give up.
When I took economics at South Side in 1997, personal finance was part of the course. You might squeeze it into the economics course without increasing any expences.
My high school education lacked any economics, personal or otherwise. I feel that was a huge disservice to me and to my classmates. Ironically, I went to a private prep school!
My father especially taught me the value of money and the importance of savings. Unfortunately, I was a poor student. I didn't actually put the lessons into practice until I was in my mid-20s.
My own plan is to home school my infant daughter, and personal economics will be taught from an early age. Hopefully, she will be a better student than I was! After all, you can provide all the knowledge in the world, but it's still up to the student to put what they learn into practice.
Mike, you wrote:
"Of course someone will defend any program that someone else wants to remove Debbie, they always do... That does not mean that we should just give up."
Whoa, you're exactly right! And since I've been trying to say that we'd be better off trying to work on removing the program of education from government, then you're saying I shouldn't give up. So thanks for the support. :)
Of course you should not give up Debbie. I also have faith that you will not give up.
I prefer to do my best fo help improve the local School District.
Personal finance is best left to the parents first. If it is offered at the high-school level, it should be an elective.
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