Financial Illiteracy an American Nightmare

At some point before I finished the eighth grade I had a strong understanding of arithmatic and percentages. For some reason the wooden headed bureaucrats that designed the curriculum for high school students came up with the fabulous idea that plotting parabolas would some day be far more useful to me than having a fundimental understanding of how capitalism works. It's been almost 30 years since I took algebra 2. I'm sorry to report that I have never had to apply the wonders of y =AX2 +BX + C to a real life situation. I'm sorry to say that 90 % of the rest of the crap they taught after that was almost as useless. They should have spent a year teaching me about how the capitalist system we all live in works, what compound intrest is and how it can cripple you if you make bad, uninformed financial decisions. The government is as much to blame for the current mess as anyone, they mandate what is taught. I understand the need to compete with other countries but I don't see how releasing financial illiterates into the work force gives us a competitive edge. Something has to change.

For decades the focus has been preparing kids for college. The problem is, colleges don't require basic fundimental financial education as part of a degree unless a student chooses to take business classes. This is utter Foolishness. So many bright people spend thousands of dollars on extending their education and still they end up financially clueless. This is WRONG. These institutions have soaked us of our time and money and failed to prepare us for making basic decisions in a capitalist society. People wonder why millions of Americans are drowning in debt.

The fundimental priciples of capitalism should be required learning in high school and beyond. Having the capacity to make sound financial decisions should be a cornerstone of the educational system. I believe that society's failure to educate people on the fundimental principles of capitalism is the reason the economy has sunk so low. I doubt a sustainable solution to our current problems can be achieved without widespread education on this subject.