How Schools Prepare Kids to Fail in Business
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tell a friend
Douglas Goldstein.
Schools waste kids’ time by teaching them the wrong math.
Since half of Americans die with less than $10,000 in savings, it appears that maybe they’re not too good at handling money. The educational system seems to be failing in teaching practical financial skills to students. Kids aren’t learning math and money skills that they can apply to everyday life.
Schools seem to favor theoretical math over basic “practical math.” If useful math and money skills were taught in middle school and high school, students would enter the real world equipped to earn and manage their own money. Instead, the education system focuses on esoteric topics that help make future mathematicians and scientists. But how many children grow up and use calculus on a regular basis, compared to those who must balance a checkbook?
Which helps you more in life: knowing how to solve a quadratic equation or understanding how actuaries calculate your pension payments?
My high school math classes included in-depth study of calculus, trigonometry, geometry, and such. As a 20-year veteran on Wall Street, I will admit that other than helping my kids with their homework, I haven’t used any of those disciplines in handling my clients’ money.
Those in favor of keeping the current math curriculum argue that learning complex mathematics helps develop the skills of critical thinking. I agree. But there are plenty of demanding math techniques that also have practical applications. Why not teach those first?
For example, teach the kids ratios, standard deviation, statistics and probability, sampling and estimation, correlation analysis and regression, technical and fundamental analysis of businesses. Wouldn’t studying these before studying the more obscure number topics also help develop the skills of “critical thinking?”
Math has practical applications
Imagine if children learned math that helped them when they went to work. Since about 100% of high-school graduates will eventually hold a job compared to the 1% or so who will use calculus in their careers, shouldn’t schools teach practical topics? Wouldn’t it be helpful to learn the math and concepts behind market forces of supply and demand, gross national product, interest rates, business cycles, inflation, cash flows, and, of course, investments?
As a financial adviser, I talk with thousands of people about their money and through my online school, I teach the basics of investing. It’s surprising to me when folks have credit card debt, yet cannot calculate the interest that they will owe on it. Or, I’ll talk to them about a price/earnings ratio, which is the first number that people look at when checking out a stock, but the clients don’t get the concept of how a ratio works and I have to explain it.
Shouldn’t the next generation of children enter the workforce knowing how to read their brokerage statements and understand them?
I am a big believer in math. I studied many complex topics in college, and I think others should, too. But first teach kids practical math in school, and then if they decide to study further, only then start with the abstruse topics.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, is the director of Profile Investment Services, Ltd, a financial planning firm located in Jerusalem. He specializes in working with clients in New York, Florida, and Israel and is a licensed financial professional both in the U.S. and Israel. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, SIFMA. Accounts carried by Pershing LLC., Member NYSE/SIPC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. Neither Profile nor PRG gives tax or legal advice. Before immigrating to Israel, it is advisable to consult with a tax attorney who is knowledgeable about Israeli law. Doug’s newest book The Expatriates’ Guide to Handling Money and Taxes is available at www.expatguidetomoney.com. He hosts a weekly finance show, Goldstein on Gelt, on internet radio. Listen live or download podcasts. Toll-free from U.S. 1-888-327-6179, Jerusalem: (02) 624-2788. Follow on Twitter: @DougGoldstein or contact at doug@profile-financial.com.
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3 Responses to “How Schools Prepare Kids to Fail in Business”
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I agree! That's the reason I left the pedagogy studies. I came to the conclusion that whole thing is set up to cripple the kids mind to be obedient observers, noncriticaly following forced 'values' & social norms! Indeed, that is the real reason we have crippled individuals/citizens unable to think and act independently. As we can see from everyday life experience there is vast majority of people with lack of basic skills to succeed in this corrupted sistem. In Croatia particulary the tendency is to degrade the educational sistem in order to keep the Orwell's farm intact! Despite the fact that the Croatian state is breaking it's own constitutional order manipulating with human/civil rights of their citizens, in order to serve their real masters (foreign banks and corporations – read Deutche Bank) there is no adequate civil action/response to stop that. So we can see how educational sistem is used to keep the population silent and discouraged from demanding – preserving their basic constitutional rights. The alliance lawyers-public notaries-courts became the Bastille of murderous machinery for robbing people. You may come and see for yourself, the windows of the county court are fully covered with the names of people destroyed with imposed debts waiting for forced taking of their property to pay off the debts. If those citizens were properly educated in practical skills of math and other citizen legal matters they would never fell wictims of such exploating venture. In the past conquer was achieved by military force but in our time it is done by financial means! The proportions of administrative genocide as I call it are so severe that they demand trial at international tribune in Haag for crimes against humanity.
There is no critical thinking just as a true democracy cannot exist as the critical mass of people needed to vote for the appropriate person is not enough in numbers or intelligence.
I am please to say that Alberta, Canada is making some inroads for making math more practical. There are classes in applied math and account available in all high schools here. That said I think that a lot of the financial math and money management learning should be happening or be reinforced at home.
This is one of the reasons I go involved with http://www.truesmarts.com. It helps parents to teach their kids about financial management and entrepreneurship.