Why do people buy crap?

tempo_n_groove

PJ_Soul said:

tempo_n_groove said:

ldent42 said:

I saw this great picture the other day and I can't find it now. It was something to the effect of a student saying "teach me how to pay bills, taxes, 401k" and the school system replying "no, no don't worry about that. Now, the hypotenuse of a triangle..."
I obviously had an exceptionally bad time with the nyc public school system personally, but they don't teach personal finance at all really, which is kind of insane. One of the first college classes I took the guy says to us "if you open a mutual fund and bring me the proof or the statement, I'll give you a C even if you never come into this class again. That's how important it is." I didn't take him up on his offer, but I did open my own investigation into mutual fund and ended up starting my investment portfolio at age 23ish. This was a nighttime intro to business class at community college. I'd not have learned about it any other way.

These schools have these dumb ass requirements for classes - they should include a basic personal finance course in the curriculum requirements. I mean it's a bit more important than an "urban studies elective" or a year of foreign language, no?


In related news a former classmate of mine recently had to take out a $500 loan to pay for emergency dental work cuz Medicaid wouldn't cover it. I thought that was fitting here.

Off the subject but to add to your wonderful reply!

Things that are NOT taught in school?!?

How to balance a check book.
How to do taxes.
How to buy a house/car.
How to apply for a student loan.
What a student loan is.
How to pay off that student loan.
How to budget.

There were classes like that in my high school. It was a mandatory class that we had to take at least once during grades 10 to 12. It was called business ed. How to balance check books (this was in the early to mid 90s of course), how to write a resume, job interview tactics, how to budget, what household expenses are like, etc etc. They also gave us a career aptitude test (I believe my ideal career was deemed to be sports psychologist, lol). It was a brand new thing back then. I don't know if that was or is mandatory provincial curriculum though. It's possible that my particular school was just really on the ball.

I am now VERY curious if they are teaching this stuff now.

ldent42

^^ sounds like either private school OR a well funded bougie school district.

If you think about it school is one of the biggest offenders with the purchasing of crap. The kids get a list every year and have to go to Staples et al and get their composition notebooks and erasers and whatnot. And it only gets worse as they get older. Remember protractors? Looseleaf binders and dividers - yea.

RKCNDY

ldent42 said:

^^ sounds like either private school OR a well funded bougie school district.

If you think about it school is one of the biggest offenders with the purchasing of crap. The kids get a list every year and have to go to Staples et al and get their composition notebooks and erasers and whatnot. And it only gets worse as they get older. Remember protractors? Looseleaf binders and dividers - yea.

you do know that the crap parents are required to buy also are not exclusively for their children. Some parents can't afford to buy their children the supplies, so all the stuff the kids bring to school is all put together into a big pile for everybody to share. Again, probably related to the 'people that can't come up with $500'.

brianlux

ldent42 said:

^^ sounds like either private school OR a well funded bougie school district.

If you think about it school is one of the biggest offenders with the purchasing of crap. The kids get a list every year and have to go to Staples et al and get their composition notebooks and erasers and whatnot. And it only gets worse as they get older. Remember protractors? Looseleaf binders and dividers - yea.

Yep, and more and more some schools, especially in poor districts get the worst when it comes to text books.

The other thing that gets me is how schools will never cut out left brained classes like math yet the creative classes like art and home economics become more scarce. Too much of it is about training worker bees and future soldiers. What we end up with are more soldiers of misfortune.

ldent42

RKCNDY said:

ldent42 said:

^^ sounds like either private school OR a well funded bougie school district.

If you think about it school is one of the biggest offenders with the purchasing of crap. The kids get a list every year and have to go to Staples et al and get their composition notebooks and erasers and whatnot. And it only gets worse as they get older. Remember protractors? Looseleaf binders and dividers - yea.

you do know that the crap parents are required to buy also are not exclusively for their children. Some parents can't afford to buy their children the supplies, so all the stuff the kids bring to school is all put together into a big pile for everybody to share. Again, probably related to the 'people that can't come up with $500'.

nope. I know nothing about what goes on in the classroom. I just seen the lists.