Comment by jakubmazanec
18 days ago
> Education is particularly susceptible to flavor-of-the-month initiatives that promise revolutionary changes but deliver minimal results.
Then the article proposes another flavor-of-the-month solution that promise revolutionary changes - if only each student would start a business, then he would HAVE to learn math and everything will be solved.
Ignoring the issues of costs and scalability, why not try something simpler first? IMO teaching how to handle money is something that should parents start even before their kids go to school. Give them a little pocket money so they have some agency, and they will soon learn what they can buy now and how to save for a future.
I did that actually!
I had a large project in high school where we went through the process of starting a company, maybe selling a single knitted sock to someone, balancing the books, and closing the business. Not as simulated tasks but through the proper process. Other schools did the same.
It didn't actually teach me much, and it took up a vast amount of school time. I preferred the pure class that explained the economic theory and went through calculation exercises. I remember that much more clearly.
It's odd. The article starts by really highlighting that the school system is a bit broken in teaching the basics but then suggests adding extra stuff on top of it rather than suggesting or diagnosing the actual issue.
> It’s like installing a fancy security system on a house with no foundation.
The article said it pretty well... for itself.
> Give them a little pocket money so they have some agency
This is great. My parents did it; most of my friends had the same. I will do it when I have children. The amount does not even matter. I think I had a $2 a month, and I started to proudly save up for toys or hold off on the lure of sweets. (not that the amount every accumulated to buy anything)
Yea, seems a bit weird honestly. Starting a business is incredibly hard. And the financial part of it is just a tiny part of why it's hard. You also have to find an idea of a service/product and marketing to name just two that will kill your company before it ever got a single customer.
The article isn't suggesting kids start the next google. They do have two big structural benefits you don't have, though:
1. Their customers love them or at least know them well and are sympathetic. Not many neighbours or parents will walk past the lemonade stand or ring the health inspectors. People will be their customers just to be nice and to support them.
2. They have no costs and unlimited time. They don't pay rent or board, they don't have jobs and they don't have dependants.
My country's stock exchange runs a play platform for highschoolers. It runs 15 week seasons in line with school terms, participants get 50k play money, and can make unlimited trades from the top 300 stocks using market data from that period.
The jump from opening a bank account and basic financial literacy to share trading is a pretty big one but it's hands on and more engaging than most lessons.
https://www.asx.com.au/investors/investment-tools-and-resour...