Previously Published in The Messenger
This week, one of our journalists had the opportunity to cover a teacher bringing to a classroom a subject for which many have been clamoring for decades: finance.
“They should be teaching finance in high school,” we hear frequently. “I use finance every day. I don’t use the Pythagorean Theorem,” is also commonly heard.
Our favorite, however, is the classic ironic twist on regurgitating information with little to no bearing on our immediate lives, “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”
That’s not to say those aspects of study aren’t important or have no purpose, but the cynicism on the streets makes it a difficult problem to ignore. We’ve had some parents tell us that they think time could be used better in schools, and that there are so many “celebrations,” the concept of school loses its inherent values of education and social development.
These are just opinions after all, but regardless of one’s agreement, we here at The Messenger all agree: engagement and the break of monotony can be utilized in the best ways possible.
And Sayville does it right with The Stock Market Game, meant to teach students to track numbers, learn budgeting, assess risk, and get a healthy mix of knowledge and gut needed to make bold decisions and plan pragmatically. Perhaps no other skill will be needed as much as finance with the tough time we’re in ahead and possibly tougher times that lie ahead. Finance isn’t just about being savvy with money anymore; it’s more or less survival at this point.
We see that other schools take financial education seriously, and we appreciate that many schools across the county utilize students’ and educators’ time wisely with these types of exercises. We thank Sayville for allowing us to cover this workshop in-depth and the students for their remarks on how helpful they found this unit.