What students should be studying at the School of Life
Elisabeth Donati, author of The Ultimate Allowance, looks at kids these days -- and by kids she actually means anyone under 30 -- and wonders what exactly they're being taught at home and at school.
"Our children aren’t learning how to take care of themselves … emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually or financially," she maintains.
"They aren’t learning how to think through problems and solve them. And they aren’t learning how to think globally for the most part. Everything is geared toward solving problems individually when in reality, we solve problems best when we work on them together."
Donati decided to compile a list of what she would want kids to learn in her school, if she started one. Here’s a sample what she's come up with so far.
* that life is simply what we make it.
* that it’s our responsibility to wake up each morning and choose to be happy.
* that nothing in life is free or guaranteed; you have to work for what you want.
* that we aren’t born with rights and we don’t deserve anything … unless we earn it.
* that money is simply a tool to reach your dreams and that you need learn how to use it wisely.
* that money doesn’t mean anything about who we are as a person
* that by taking care of the earth and each other, we take care of ourselves.
* that we get one body and it’s an honor to take care of it.
* that the best way to gain respect from others is to be respectful of others.
* that television is not a particularly healthy past-time.
* that moving one’s body each day is a key to our overall health.
Is Donati on to something? What would you add to her list?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: Karl | Mar 8, 2022 2:51:14 AM
I would also add a simple understanding of economics. It is amazing that we constantly rate the economy as the biggest issue in elections yet most people have never even taken a single Economics course. How many people who read this understand the relationship between exchange rates and inflation? Or how tariffs harm productivity? Or the effects of GDP to debt ratio? If you don't...you shouldn't be allowed to vote...and sadly that is most of you. :-(
Posted by: European | Mar 8, 2022 4:17:05 PM
Biggest issue for Canadian students after finishing education is competition for jobs with inflax of
never ending emigrants from Asia. We have to take care first of our children , our students and our families. Please add our Canadian children to the list - chance to have job in their own country.
Posted by: Randy | Mar 10, 2022 6:45:07 AM
Karl.I think you miss the point ,if everyone balanced their own life (financially and emotionally) everything would fall in line and take care of itself.
Posted by: Nick | Mar 10, 2022 8:25:32 PM
Money definitely CAN tell you something about someone. Some people are foolish and/or lazy, or prone to impulses, while others are hard working and careful. It's something that sets us apart from the instant gratification that most other animals go for the majority of the time. If you meet people with no money although they've worked for 20+ years, or someone that has done well in the first 5-10 years of working AND put themselves through university, you can tell something about them. People who can't buy Christmas presents for their kids, but smoke, drink, do drugs, have tattoos and a dog that's just chained up in the yard and not even fun for their kids don't have their heads on straight.
You DO have rights. That has to do with the laws of your country. The author has misnamed "entitlement" as "right".
Immigrants don't take jobs away, they add to the economy if they're working or starting businesses. If they arrive and instantly get more benefits than pay taxes, that's a different story. It's not reasonable that people have a really easy life off of a "McJob" that was never meant as a permanent career.
People SHOULD be taught MUCH better about the economy and other important day-to-day and year-to-year things. Maybe we'd have less groups of bumpkins sitting around together thinking that if everyone just stopped buying gasoline for a day that's "fix those oil companies". Why teach students (especially young ones) about abstract poetry and old plays and irrelevant/random cultural things when they don't know math, science, economics, home economics, industrial arts/mechanics (how many young people can sew, do minor repairs and maintenance on a vehicle or home, balance their budget, and safely handle and cook good food?), etc.