SPF #3; Business Finance.

So.

I’m a math teacher.  When I was in High School, my mom recommended that I take Business Finance.  I thought that was dumb, because I was already in Calculus, and Business Finance was going to be easier math.  That part was true, but the real value in Business Finance was the financial application of the math to make my life and career a bit more successful.  For instance, I didn’t really understand the miracle of compound interest before that class.  After that, my summer job was all about saving enough to put in a Roth IRA.  Which was a great idea, until the tech bust of 1999, where I lost more than half of what I put in.  That was a hard lesson, but by the time I retire that investment will hopefully literally be worth millions.  What I’m trying to say here is that without a parent who encouraged my financial literacy, I would have bought a computer and a car and been much happier in the moment, but not in the long run.  I believe that in our society today we focus so much on abstract, liberal arts kind of concepts in education that we forget about the practical application.  I don’t know a 30 year old who wouldn’t benefit from the kind of practical mathematical application I got from Business Finance.  I love math, but I think for most people, stats and calc isn’t as important as basic Business Finance to their eventual well being and success in life.  As I said, I love math and I use it every day.  It’s what helps me to be frugal and what guarantees my financial future.  But without the knowledge of how to apply compound interest, all my mathematical knowledge of the concept would be useless.  Most math curriculum teaches it that way - in a dry, very academic and disassociated manner.  Little wonder then, that students mostly hate math by the time they graduate high school, because they have no way to apply it to themselves.  Good teachers try to make the argument that the abstraction has a purpose, and that there are ways to apply things like trigonometry to your life if you’re not an engineer, carpenter, or roller coaster designer, but the fact is that we shouldn’t have to.  Textbooks should be written in such a way that students can see why the math is useful.  Then they won’t have as much attitudinal issue, because they’ll at least grudgingly admit that the math might do something for them someday.  We have demonized courses like Business Finance in many schools, in favor of classes that might give students a better shot on standardized tests.  Likewise, Vocational Technical schools are frowned upon by many parents, even as electricians vastly outstrip college grads in terms of salary and job security.  Not all practical education is bad - in fact, some of it is downright necessary for our economy and our culture.  For instance, the idea of buying a car or a house that we can afford to pay for would save millions of Americans from being in underwater mortgages.  The housing market couldn’t have inflated as it did if people didn’t think they could pay astronomical monthly payments.  They would have had to settle for houses that were a little smaller, and they wouldn’t be bankrupt now and living in an apartment, they’d just live in a smaller house they actually could afford to own.  What we need to do as a society is give students choices and let them make their own decisions.  If they like fixing stuff, let them choose a Vo-Tech school, or engineering school.  We have to stop forcing this, “every child goes to college” mentality, and give students choices that will make them successful with or without it.  College is the new high school, and a high school diploma without any sort of specialized training means absolutely zilch.