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Classes formatted to help students' futures does not meet modern standards

Posted by: Haley York

Thursday, March 27, 2008 10:32 AM

Just out of curiosity, how many of you know how to invest properly? The difference between mutual funds, penny stock, blue chip stock, growth stock, etc.? As adults, I fully expect you to have a savings account and some kind of credit, but how many of you are paying the minimum payment on your credit card? Do you know how to avoid scams? Identity theft?
All of the above should be basic knowledge for a financially successful (meaning not failing miserably, or bankrupt) adult, and something Unit 4 thinks is needed for students to know.

One of the requirements for graduation from Centennial is taking a consumer education course, or passing the proficiency test for one of those courses. There are a couple classes offered for students to earn that consumer ed. credit, such as Financial Management, Economics, etc. I am currently taking financial management, and it is the easiest class I have ever taken. The curriculum for that particular class requires that we know how to make money, how to save money, how to manage credit, stocks, avoid scams, etc. That is great. Students do need to know this information before they graduate. But because this is a required class, it is also required to be sub standard, so even the less-than-brilliant students can pass it. No, I'm not taking shots at the mentally challenged; I'm concerned about the lazy, motivationally challenged students. The students that are in school for the social atmosphere, or because it is a federal law to attend school, or the parents of those students are forcing them to go. Because of these students, my 'real world' education is turning into the preschool down the hall.
The one thing in that class that I have truly learned is how the stock market works. As part of the course, the classes at Centennial, St. Thomas More, Urbana, and Central take part in a competition that the Rotary Club sponsors through the University of Illinois. In the competition, students create a fake investments company and invest in stocks through a program called UISES. (To learn more, visit http://www.uises.com) The stocks on UISES reflect the actual stock market. Each student begins with a million dollars, and buys stocks on the NASDAQ and the NYSE. Whatever student makes the biggest percentage increase and the most money wins the competition and the prize This program is a really smart way to teach students how to properly invest so that as adults they are aware of how to invest. Maybe the school district thinks that if the students are taught how to invest properly, the stock market will be in less danger of another catastrophic decline.
But, like I said, this is the only truly interesting part of that class. Yes, there are some slow students. But that is why the rest of the classes at Centennial are divided. There is a higher level class for all of the English, Math, and Science courses at Centennial, because students have to have at least some of those credits to graduate. Even the social science courses at Centennial aren't that mediocre, and those are required for graduation too. So shouldn't the class that is required for graduation and supposed to help students be successful financially be a little bit more advanced for those students who are advanced? When I say advanced, I mean the normal students, who have the motivation to pass their classes, do their homework, and spend more time in class than in detention.
There is a slight problem with the arrangement of a higher level class for higher level students. The students who take the lower level classes will be the ones with the behavioral issues. Which means those classes will learn less, and be less prepared. But there is no lower level in society - just those people who do better, and those who don't. So by creating a lower level class, will that automatically create a lower level of people? But by keeping all levels of students in the same sub-standard class, won't that make all of the students less prepared?
I'm not aware of how well the other consumer ed. classes work, but I hope they are a bit harder. One of the biggest problems in that class is that it is so easy it is boring, which makes it harder for students to pass; students fall asleep, feel that the class is a waste of time, skip the class, get bored so decide to misbehave, etc.
Any suggestions? I'm sure the school district might be interested. Oh, and any suggestions on what I should invest in? There is no rule about getting help, and since it is supposed to simulate real investing, I would definitely get help from an investments company or a stock broker if I was truly investing. (Keep in mind, the goal is the highest percentage of capital gain, on the NASDAQ and NYSE, and the competition is till May.)

Comments

Ironically, short-term investing is not a wise strategy, especially with a lump sum of 1 million dollars.

But you play the cards you're dealt.

It's a rough business environment right now, but I'd invest in oil companies. And if you can find a pharmaceutical company that's about to unveil a new product/drug, you should put some money there, too.

Posted by Wenalway on March 27, 2008 at 5:43 PM

As wenalway notes, this class is teaching extremely poor investment habits. Encouraging short term investing and disguising it as a teaching exercise is only acceptable if you take out the short-term capital gains taxes, the brokerage fees, etc. The lesson learned should be: don't do it.

The other fallacy is the liklihood that you'll ever have a $1mill chunk to invest. Teaching long term, low intial startup capital with tools like DRIP's, and teaching how to find stable stocks that give high dividends for undervalued base stock price would give much better buy and hold returns.

Of course you'd never find a finance professional that would recommend this, as they make their $$$ on the buy and on the sell...

Posted by dw on June 30, 2008 at 5:07 PM