Rant #1: Money and Our Education

To begin my first rant, I live in British Columbia, Canada, and I have taken thirteen years of public school which include eight years of primary school and five years of high school. I don’t know exactly how different public education is structured across the continent or even across the country, but from what I hear, the content of public education, the subject matter, is mostly the same throughout. Those of us who went to public school probably spent a lot of time learning about science, math, some physical education, english, social studies and history, music, and some more specialized electives that we chose at our discretion.

Well, current teachers, students and former students, I have a rant for you, so listen up. It begins with a core question that deserves a solid answer, and it is a question that I think everybody should ask because it affects everybody every day, including you.

Why did we not learn about money?

Let me explain. I learned in school how to count money. That’s about it when it came to the subject of money. Now, looking back on my education at the age of 26, there is an enormous, obvious yet essential hole in what was taught at the time. Money. We use it every day. It surrounds our lives. We work, trade, and sell ourselves for money. It is the tool that drives our material affairs forward. It is the means by which we have organized present day society across the entire globe. Every nation has an “economy”, and every school, government, and institution has a “budget”. Our jobs provide paychecks in the form of money, and the food at the grocery store costs money. We buy lottery tickets and hope to be millionaires. We work and stress for money to make ends meet. In a multitude of ways that we connect with each other every single day, for everybody at every age, there is surely one aspect that remains central to our dealings – money. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is, what your sexual orientation is, your creed, faith, or any aspect of your individual self. In this life, you are going to be using money. Not a single person on the entire planet is excluded from its use or its effects.

So…given its vast importance…where in education is the history, the concept, and the practical application of money? Where is the truth about money? Who actually makes money? Every parent and teacher has to go to the bank, which would imply, as we got older, that we would have to be going to the bank. Why did we learn nothing about banks, or banking?