Maybe you went to some special college that actually cared about how you functioned in society, but I attended the University of Florida, where they are more concerned about putting up more buildings and increasing their pushing you out of the graduation door as fast as possible. I love UF, and I hate talking bad about the school, but it’s like every other large university. You are just a number, and they expect you to figure out some of the most important subjects by yourself: your career and your money.
College never taught you how to manage your money: I write for a blog called Money Crashers which is a personal finance blog that I started 2 years ago. I realized that the need to educate young people about how to manage their money was extremely high. The reason for this is that we breeze through school by hearing a couple lectures here, and a couple impromptu power point presentations there, and we’re expected to know how to manage our money. There is no set cirriculum to help educate you about personal finance, buying and selling real estate, picking 401(k) investments, and picking the right insurance policies. We need to do something about this, and it starts with high school and college students. They need to be educated by people who don’t have an alternative agenda. For instance, there are personal finance courses in some high schools around the country, but many of the materials they use are sponsored by Visa or Mastercard. Don’t you think it’s a little bit of a conflict of interest for a credit card company to be teaching young people about how to manage their money?
College never taught you how to get a job or start your own business: I started this blog because of this very reason. College is supposed to prepare you for the real world, but there is no cirriculum to counsel you on how to get the right job to fit your career goals and personality. One thing I HATE about the public school system from K through 12 is that they steer kids towards the mentality of finding a good job and never towards the option of entrepreneurship. This is because Baby Boomers are young children, and they were taught by their parents to find a safe job and stick with it for a long time. This isn’t the case for us. We’ll most likely change jobs 10 to 12 times over our working career. We may even change careers a few times. There is so much to know about choosing a career, transitioning to a new career, interviewing for a job, dealing with office culture, starting up a business, managing your own business, and the list goes on. Yet, we are supposed to figure this stuff out on our own.
Maybe there’s an element to falling on your face first that helps you learn life lessons, but I think that the educational system is just out-dated and old-fashioned. It’s stuck in its ways, and it would rather spend more time on the periodic table of elements rather than practical lessons about two of the most important aspects of your life, your money and your career.
So, what’s the solution to this knowledge gap? Do we petition the government and get more cirriculum into public schools and universities? Or do we continue to strive to educate the Millenial Generation, so they can teach their kids about these subjects. I think it’s a combination of both. I think we do need more cirriculum in schools about sound money management principles and career development, but we also need to educate parents about these subjects so they pass it on to their children. What do you think? What’s your solution?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Michael Henreckson // Mar 27, 2008 at 3:55 pm
In my opinion a lot depends on the parents. No matter what the school teaches, the people in your family and close friendships are going to have a big impact on your outlook on career. I know some kids who get pressure from their parents, “Grow up and be an electrician, nice steady paycheck.”
True, as long as you keep working every day. You may be perfectly willing to do that until you get into your 50s and 60s and pulling wires around every day doesn’t seem so easy anymore.
My parents on the other hand have always encouraged me and my siblings to think outside the box and consider entrepreneurship as not just another option, but a very good one. It gives you the ability to get things started and then step back later on while the employees you’ve hired over the years take up the slack and keep the business running.
To sum up, perhaps one reason schools don’t teach these things is that they are subjects that are hard to teach in a standardized manner. That’s where parents come in to give us individualized attention. That’s in an ideal world though, and not all parents are well equipped to give their kids this kind of advice.
2 Renata // Apr 3, 2008 at 11:41 am
Condensation. The seven years I spent in college could easily have been condensed to three or less. What I did learn, I taught myself by reading, did not learn from professors whom I found out of touch and unbearable for the most part. Them being cozy in their sinecure was no great example either - the rest of the world does not give you a sabbatical year every seven years where you can roam through Italy on full salary.
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