Personal Responsibility...
Mr. Dan Montes makes a good point. Recently, I posted a blog about a senario of a possible financial future for myself (you can read it below). As my wonderfully astute friend pointed out, he believes that educating the youth of America about a smart financial future should be incorporated into the educational system. Because the man is far more brilliant than I can ever hope to be, I'm certainly not trying to put words in his mouth, but I believe he and I might respectfully disagree.
I take exception when people want to shift responsibility for their children onto someone else, rather it be the schools, churches, sporting mentors, or other role models. It seems as though today's society wants everyone to raise their kids except the parents themselves.
I have a problem with schools being responsible for teaching 7th grade children about sex. I have a problem with churches being responsible for giving someone an opinion about a religious issue. We all have brains. We can think for ourselves, and more importantly, we have the responsibility to make sure our kids can, too.
What about prayer in schools? Is it really the schools responsibility to allow my child assigned time to pray? I'd like to meet every parent who complains about our school systems and the lack of religion, and the first question I'd like to ask would be "how often do you sit down with your child and pray before you send them off to school?" What makes matters worse is that religion actually is allowed in schools, but teachers, who are also government employees (because our taxes pay their salaries), are not allowed to lead our children in prayer. Teachers can teach your child about the history of religion, but they can't preach to your child about the philosophy of religion. Your child can pray all he or she wants! They just can't do it with the teacher.
Let's take a deeper look at the financial future scenario again, shall we? Who's responsibility is this? We agree it comes down to education, but by whom? Our nation has more debt that any other country in the world. Our citizens borrow to much, and pay back too little. It's as simple as basic economic supply & demand: unlimited wants and limited resources. We've taken that to the next level... actually, beyond the next level.
Riddle me this: when you finished high school and learned that you could have credit cards to pay for beer, pizza, clothes, and the new stereo in your car, did you make stupid decisions? Most kids starting college have made that very same mistake. From our discussion from several days ago, what about retirement? Social security? Roth IRA's? Is any of this making any sense? We understand 18% interest on a credit card, but have no clue that 6.2% comes out of your paycheck and is matched by your employer for your retirement. Isn't that backwards?
Mr. Dan Montes wants you to believe it's the educational systems responsiblity to teach your children about how to handle money. I say, I disagree with you, but our country is in such terrible shape, why not give your idea a shot for a while. Even though we don't see eye to eye, I'm man enough to admit when my plan of action isn't working... and right now, we're going in the exact opposite direction, it's past funny, and it's past ridiculous.
Instead of giving you a problem, allow me to give you a solution. Let the educational system jump in for a bit, but don't overdo it. Let's begin by testing the waters first. We don't need to add a class to the core cirriculum, but we must do something to change the mindset we've engrained into these kids. Posters need to go up. A new advertising campaign within our school system needs to begin. Seminars need to be offered consistantly for a day a week for a couple weeks.
How can the schools afford this? Maybe the educators can learn a thing or two from the seminars. I'm sure there are areas in the budget that can be better spent. What about the possibility of including the credit card companies themselves? I'm sure they'll take a philanthropic stand in money management, just as Philip Morris has joined the fight against teen smoking. They're tired of loosing money because 20 year old guys need to pay for their beer and cigarettes, but never pay their credit card bills.
As much as I'd like to place the responsibility of educating our children about financial matters to the parents, it certainly hasn't worked the way we'd like it too, so lets try something else. Lets try it your way, Dan. Maybe together, we can increase everyone's FICO score.
I take exception when people want to shift responsibility for their children onto someone else, rather it be the schools, churches, sporting mentors, or other role models. It seems as though today's society wants everyone to raise their kids except the parents themselves.
I have a problem with schools being responsible for teaching 7th grade children about sex. I have a problem with churches being responsible for giving someone an opinion about a religious issue. We all have brains. We can think for ourselves, and more importantly, we have the responsibility to make sure our kids can, too.
What about prayer in schools? Is it really the schools responsibility to allow my child assigned time to pray? I'd like to meet every parent who complains about our school systems and the lack of religion, and the first question I'd like to ask would be "how often do you sit down with your child and pray before you send them off to school?" What makes matters worse is that religion actually is allowed in schools, but teachers, who are also government employees (because our taxes pay their salaries), are not allowed to lead our children in prayer. Teachers can teach your child about the history of religion, but they can't preach to your child about the philosophy of religion. Your child can pray all he or she wants! They just can't do it with the teacher.
Let's take a deeper look at the financial future scenario again, shall we? Who's responsibility is this? We agree it comes down to education, but by whom? Our nation has more debt that any other country in the world. Our citizens borrow to much, and pay back too little. It's as simple as basic economic supply & demand: unlimited wants and limited resources. We've taken that to the next level... actually, beyond the next level.
Riddle me this: when you finished high school and learned that you could have credit cards to pay for beer, pizza, clothes, and the new stereo in your car, did you make stupid decisions? Most kids starting college have made that very same mistake. From our discussion from several days ago, what about retirement? Social security? Roth IRA's? Is any of this making any sense? We understand 18% interest on a credit card, but have no clue that 6.2% comes out of your paycheck and is matched by your employer for your retirement. Isn't that backwards?
Mr. Dan Montes wants you to believe it's the educational systems responsiblity to teach your children about how to handle money. I say, I disagree with you, but our country is in such terrible shape, why not give your idea a shot for a while. Even though we don't see eye to eye, I'm man enough to admit when my plan of action isn't working... and right now, we're going in the exact opposite direction, it's past funny, and it's past ridiculous.
Instead of giving you a problem, allow me to give you a solution. Let the educational system jump in for a bit, but don't overdo it. Let's begin by testing the waters first. We don't need to add a class to the core cirriculum, but we must do something to change the mindset we've engrained into these kids. Posters need to go up. A new advertising campaign within our school system needs to begin. Seminars need to be offered consistantly for a day a week for a couple weeks.
How can the schools afford this? Maybe the educators can learn a thing or two from the seminars. I'm sure there are areas in the budget that can be better spent. What about the possibility of including the credit card companies themselves? I'm sure they'll take a philanthropic stand in money management, just as Philip Morris has joined the fight against teen smoking. They're tired of loosing money because 20 year old guys need to pay for their beer and cigarettes, but never pay their credit card bills.
As much as I'd like to place the responsibility of educating our children about financial matters to the parents, it certainly hasn't worked the way we'd like it too, so lets try something else. Lets try it your way, Dan. Maybe together, we can increase everyone's FICO score.
Labels: Educations, Money
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