8 ms·
I have an unsupported conjecture that critical thinking skills and financial literacy aren’t taught in (US) schools more or less intentionally. Financial litera
by IntronExon 9y ago
I have an unsupported conjecture that critical thinking skills and financial literacy aren’t taught in (US) schools more or less intentionally. Financial literacy would harm the business models of institutions offering many types of loans, mortgages, lines of credit, etc. Truly educated consumers are harder to fleece.
Critical thinking dovetails with that, and would probably make it harder for ideological, religious, and political figures to “win hearts and minds.” In my experience parents want their kids to believe whatever they believe, politicians want vacuous morons, and ideologues only want to propagate their ideology. Giving people general tools to sort through the mess of competing ideas seems to appeal less than using the opportunity of education as a means of inculcation.
In short most people and groups want their own version of reality instilled as early as possible, and no others. A relative minority want critical thinking, financial literacy, and sound scientific principles instilled. It’s harder to take advantage of the prepared mind after all, and so much profit and power is gained through shallow blandishments and lies.
- whatshisface 9y agoThe biggest difficulty with that theory is that when people loose money to loan sharks they stop buying other things. So as far as either the national economy or the sum of all lobbyists (whichever you think the government is most beholden to) are concerned it's not good on average when people loose everything.
- IntronExon 9y agoAverage people don’t lose everything, they live in debt, and increase their debt. Credit cards and student loans, medical bills and mortgages. People who make sound financial decisions don’t roll over debt on their cc’s, or allow for a housing bubble. They might be swayed by arguments that single-payer healthcare wouldn’t lower costs. They might even question the value of spending trillions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- marnett 9y agoMyself and my sound financial decisions question nothing about Iraq/Afghanistan. HAL performed amazingly in that period.
- IntronExon 9y agoGood investing, but arguably the harm to the overall economy would be difficult for you to compensate for over time. I’d also guess that you care about the wellbeing of others, in which case your personal enrichment is only part of the story.
- pc86 9y ago1. There is a national (or international) cabal of executives and power brokers at major institutions of banking and finance that have infiltrated the federal and state Departments of Education, local school boards, curriculum writing organizations, and more in order to subtly dumb down the American populace with the goal that they will be able to make money off these idiots decades later to the tune of a car loan and a mortgage. 2. Financial literacy doesn't appear on any standardized test. I think there's a saying about horses and zebras that applies.
- IntronExon 9y agoI didn’t say or intimate your formulation of “1” Do you think that standardized tests generate spontaneously? SAT-De Novo edition?
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y agoAre these long-term-thinking executives the same ones who can't see further into the future than the next quarter? You, know, the ones HN is always bitching about?
- zappo2938 9y ago[deleted]
- sj3k 9y agowow after reading this I have no idea why they were angry and annoyed. I bet you're positively charming.
- dragonwriter 9y ago> 'Mansplaining' by definition means that a man explains something the other person already knows. No, it means a man explaining something condescendingly to a woman based on and conveying a negative, gender-based presumption of the target’s understanding and/or capacity for understanding. While its most egregious when the matter is something where the target is an expert (and especially where the speaker is not, and is relatively clueless), that's not the essence of the term.
- zappo2938 9y agoIf I can't talk about, how am I'm supposed to understand? Do you think you can explain it to me without being condescending?
- hycaria 9y agoYes there's a big risk, because as we all know, humans are very predictable machines : once you teach them something, they consistently act accordingly. We can take as proof tobacco, obesity, sex ed, various addictions and various trendy denials.
- IntronExon 9y agoMany humans would, unless you believe that the tobacco industry spent decades and billlions on FUD, bullshit research, and shady political dealing to keep people in the dark?
- hycaria 9y agoBut since 20 years that this has all been debunked, we luckily have no more new smokers and everyone is working on quitting ! No amount of education can force behaviours into people. Logic is not a shared resource.
- IntronExon 9y agoLogic is not a shared resource. Clearly, given that this is your second round of reduction to the absurd.
- refurb 9y agoPeople have known smoking was harmful since the 1960's.
- IntronExon 9y agoSome people knew, others didn’t. “People know” is a nebulous and misleading concept. Today people know that vaccines are effective without causing autism, but um, yeah. Today people in much of the world don’t know or believe that smoking is harmful, and those places are the emerging markets for tobacco. Besides, there’s knowing, and accepting. See AGW. Edit: to clarify, people can be strongly influenced to disregard what is known in favor of what “feels right” or serves their perceived interests. Simply instilling knowledge in the absence of the ability to critically examine said knowledge is insufficient.
- specialist 9y agore financial literacy Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter have been telling everyone who will listen since at least 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Dad_Poor_Dad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Dad_Poor_Dad re critical thinking Years ago, one candidate for my state's Superintendent of Public Instruction aggressively opposed adding critical thinking and problem solving to the curriculum. It'd distract from all that useful standardized testing. She won. Served two terms (8 years). https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-billings-11a3621a/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-billings-11a3621a/
- airstrike 9y agoRich Dad Poor Dad ain't exactly peer-reviewed research or even solid advice for that matter. It's a lousy self-help book at best.
- taheca 9y agoYeah.. Any critical thinker could see Robert trying to influence people. He actually is in favor of MLM systems in it, the minute I read that I was instantly suspicious of him... I later found out for good reason. https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-dad-part-1 https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-in... https://toughnickel.com/personal-finance/Robert-Kiyosaki-May-Not-Be-the-Financial-Genius-You-Think-He-Is https://toughnickel.com/personal-finance/Robert-Kiyosaki-May...
- specialist 9y agoGood grief. Embarrassed thank you. I've added Kiyosaki to my twit filter. Happily, I'm sure if I looked a little harder, I could find other, more reputable, people advocating financial literacy.