Sunday 24 August 2014

Bob Jain & How Schoolchildren Are Becoming Financially Savvy

By Jennifer Marie Anderson


When it comes to the courses one would learn in grade school, a number of different topics can come to mind. Earth science and algebra may be just a couple of examples but you probably would have never thought about finance being something that an 11-year-old would be able to pick up on. However, it seems as though there is truth to this and Bob Jain will be able to say the same. With this in mind, how useful can a topic like finance be at such a young age?

According to an article on the Guardian, schools that follow the English national curriculum will start to incorporate more finance-focused classes. Specifically, money-related math problems - in addition to budgeting, pensions, and other such topics - will be given to students ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. In one sense, these are important topics to learn about, since they'll come in handy in the future. In another sense, though, it has to be wondered whether children are too young for this subject matter.

It seems as though this change in the school curriculum was made as a result of ongoing debt-related problems, which makes said change more understandable. If these problems persist, Bob Jain will agree that young men and women should be able to approach them with learned frames of mind. It's clear that most children do not know about the specifics tied to finance or even what it is that makes an effective budget. Details like the ones to be learned about in school, according to authorities like Jain, could prove useful.

Even though there are incentives to financial classes in grade school, it seems like parents and students have voiced their concerns on the matter. To many of them, there shouldn't be a need for these classes, especially since many of them aren't even focused on college at their ages. They also do not want to have these classes take away from others that they have come to know and learn about; social studies and health come to mind. To say that criticism was brought forth would be an understatement.

If you ask me, this story is nothing but an early report that we don't know all of the details about. How exactly are these classes going to impact the learning process in general? Seeing as how the school year is not going to begin for a while, all we can do is speculate and hope that they do not take away from the other classes that students have been primed to learn from. While I see the value in financial classes, I am of the opinion that they must be handled with care.




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