Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Locke

Lol! And useless.

I remember not being able to fit it into my schedule and having to take it remotely, I procrastinated considerably and then the teachers threatened to go on strike and it needed to be done immediately.

I finished the whole thing in 4 hours. That class is a joke.

I like the concept of teaching financial literacy but am concerned about who they're going to get to teach it. The Gym teacher? Frankly, this is a subject that should be run by someone who knows what they're talking about.

I don’t think you need much expertise to teach the basics.

Something like the Financial Order of Operations is about as deep as you need to go. The math is all covered in grade 10 math. The tax implications for low income people of using an RRSP instead of a TFSA really isn’t that important. Explaining progressive taxation should be able to be done by any competent person.

What would you like taught that you think needs an expert to teach at the high school level. We don’t get physicists to teach physics or Mathematicians to teach math. We get teachers trained in teaching with exposure to to subject to teach classes. There is no reason a well designed curriculum isn’t best delivered by someone who knows how to teach.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I saw something on Reddit Alberta about the UCP wanting to modify the junior high curriculum to add learning about basic life skills, financial literacy, career education and home maintenance. It is about time that some of these things were introduced or re-introduced to growing teens and pre-teens.

Crazy to assume those kids will be able to afford a home.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yeah great...let's start the kids off rejecting experts early so that by the time they're adults and have to plan for their family and future they can just rely on TikTok or YouTube to get them through. What could possibly go wrong?

Isn’t the gym teacher the expert in this scenario? Since, you know, they’re teaching something to students and they’re the ones who actually have the education and experience required to teach in the first place?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GGG

I don’t think you need much expertise to teach the basics.

Something like the Financial Order of Operations is about as deep as you need to go. The math is all covered in grade 10 math. The tax implications for low income people of using an RRSP instead of a TFSA really isn’t that important. Explaining progressive taxation should be able to be done by any competent person.

What would you like taught that you think needs an expert to teach at the high school level. We don’t get physicists to teach physics or Mathematicians to teach math. We get teachers trained in teaching with exposure to to subject to teach classes. There is no reason a well designed curriculum isn’t best delivered by someone who knows how to teach.

Do you have any idea how many people I talk to who dont understand that concept? It. Is. Staggering.

[Geraldsh]

The most basic life lesson that needs to be taught is only 2 cents worth;
If you make one cent less than you spend you are in trouble
If you make one cent more than you spend you will be happy

The rest is details.

[Sliver]

CALM was the best class I took in high school. My parents didn't have stocks, mutual funds, RRSPs, RESPs...nothing. I had exactly zero clue about any of that stuff. I sat there like a sponge and it 100% transformed the way I considered my future and how I have approached financial planning. It has paid off for me so hardcore.

Talking to my friends it seems most are like CP and thought it was useless. I did all the assignments, though. Like grocery shopping at Mac's versus Superstore. Did the budget thing. Did mock compound interest scenarios. Got to see some Amazon woman give birth (woot!).

Even reading The Wealthy Barber was transformative for me. Remember the '10% Solution' of investing 10% of everything you make starting from your very first paycheque? I did that, except I figured if 10% was good then 20% was better.

I credit that course with the financial comfort I enjoy today. Best class in all of school and taught me things I never would have known about without it.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Isn’t the gym teacher the expert in this scenario? Since, you know, they’re teaching something to students and they’re the ones who actually have the education and experience required to teach in the first place?

Sure, the question is whether they're also subject matter experts?

Originally Posted by Sliver

CALM was the best class I took in high school. My parents didn't have stocks, mutual funds, RRSPs, RESPs...nothing. I had exactly zero clue about any of that stuff. I sat there like a sponge and it 100% transformed the way I considered my future and how I have approached financial planning. It has paid off for me so hardcore.

Talking to my friends it seems most are like CP and thought it was useless. I did all the assignments, though. Like grocery shopping at Mac's versus Superstore. Did the budget thing. Did mock compound interest scenarios. Got to see some Amazon woman give birth (woot!).

Even reading The Wealthy Barber was transformative for me. Remember the '10% Solution' of investing 10% of everything you make starting from your very first paycheque? I did that, except I figured if 10% was good then 20% was better.

I credit that course with the financial comfort I enjoy today. Best class in all of school and taught me things I never would have known about without it.

This is also my experience. I knew literally nothing about any of this in grade 11, and CALM taught me all kinds of important life skills.

But as with any education, there is taking and passing the course. And on the other hand, there is actual application of the things you took in the course. This isn't peculiar to CALM, because I've taken professional courses that others have and they just don't apply the content. It's weird to me, but I also think that's more common than we realize.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Financial literacy as a concept is one thing, acting as though you are literate and psychologically healthy is another thing entirely. Money is so deeply tied to our psychology, the examples being shown to us, the offers and opportunities in front of us at any given time.

I have a masters degree in finance and have managed both large and small amounts of money for work, but struggle like hell to put it together on a personal level and it is not for a lack of education on the subject.

I whole heartedly agree that financial literacy should be taught in schools, with age appropriate lenses applied, but I would love to see more brought in about the psychology of money, not just accounting and time value principles.

Not many of us are blessed with homes that manage their personal and familial finances well. Providing even a portion of that exposure would have to be a massive benefit for our society, overall.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

CALM was the best class I took in high school. My parents didn't have stocks, mutual funds, RRSPs, RESPs...nothing. I had exactly zero clue about any of that stuff. I sat there like a sponge and it 100% transformed the way I considered my future and how I have approached financial planning. It has paid off for me so hardcore.

Talking to my friends it seems most are like CP and thought it was useless. I did all the assignments, though. Like grocery shopping at Mac's versus Superstore. Did the budget thing. Did mock compound interest scenarios. Got to see some Amazon woman give birth (woot!).

Even reading The Wealthy Barber was transformative for me. Remember the '10% Solution' of investing 10% of everything you make starting from your very first paycheque? I did that, except I figured if 10% was good then 20% was better.

I credit that course with the financial comfort I enjoy today. Best class in all of school and taught me things I never would have known about without it.

I wanted to get something out of it, but for us it was the red-headed step child of teachers, and absolutely no one would take responsibility for it. We probably have 5 different teachers through the semester, it was disorganized and useless. So I can see why others felt the same. It's the type of class that is really going down to having the proper person teach it.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I wanted to get something out of it, but for us it was the red-headed step child of teachers, and absolutely no one would take responsibility for it. We probably have 5 different teachers through the semester, it was disorganized and useless. So I can see why others felt the same. It's the type of class that is really going down to having the proper person teach it.

Yeah, my guy was really good. He really engaged with our class. So much so, in fact, that he later married one of my classmates. Hope you two lovebirds are still happy!

[Fuzz]

Uhm...Hrmmm.

[SebC]

This is all well and good as long as we're not glossing over the fact that avoiding credit card debt is easier if society isn't letting the wealthy capture so much of the production.

[Cappy]

CALM is fine. If people don't want to pay attention to it, that's on them.

Most of what is taught in CALM, like making a budget, doesnt require an advanced education - money in, money out. People just don't care.

Just like anything, if people want to learn more on a subject, there are ample resources available

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Slava

Sure, the question is whether they're also subject matter experts?

Does that matter?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Sliver

CALM was the best class I took in high school. My parents didn't have stocks, mutual funds, RRSPs, RESPs...nothing. I had exactly zero clue about any of that stuff. I sat there like a sponge and it 100% transformed the way I considered my future and how I have approached financial planning. It has paid off for me so hardcore.

Talking to my friends it seems most are like CP and thought it was useless. I did all the assignments, though. Like grocery shopping at Mac's versus Superstore. Did the budget thing. Did mock compound interest scenarios. Got to see some Amazon woman give birth (woot!).

Even reading The Wealthy Barber was transformative for me. Remember the '10% Solution' of investing 10% of everything you make starting from your very first paycheque? I did that, except I figured if 10% was good then 20% was better.

I credit that course with the financial comfort I enjoy today. Best class in all of school and taught me things I never would have known about without it.

I don't remember CALM teaching anything about stocks, RRSP, RESPs, or mutual funds.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by fotze2

For starters the costs in SA are not comparable. Indian and African slave labor means it is wicked efficient on a $/boe basis. We have those pesky OH&S rules and benefits and safety rules.

I know a guy who is a sulfur recovery gas plant expert. Comes back from the middle east and he said it is insane what they are allowed to poorly flare there. We are like 99.5% recovery and that 0.5% flared is taxed like a whore (as it should be). You can taste the air over there. Acrid oxygen, bleeding noses, runny eyes.

Its like needing a position paper on the holocaust actually happening, except less debatable if thats possible.

Ethical is a stupid term to apply to industrial processes to begin with.

Facts, and it IS a stupid term. As stupid and unhelpful as "fair".

Every barrel that has ever been produced anywhere is an ethical barrel. It was produced in a manner subject to the ethical fabric of the producer, and the game theoretic circumstances they found themselves in while making those choices. There can be no such thing as the "MOST ETHICAL" anything.

What people are really going back and forth on here is whether something is morally good or not.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Locke

Do you have any idea how many people I talk to who dont understand that concept? It. Is. Staggering.

I am definitely not accepting that raise that puts me in the next tax bracket!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Does that matter?

Of course not. Why have an expert on a topic teach it.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Torture

I don't remember CALM teaching anything about stocks, RRSP, RESPs, or mutual funds.

Interesting. In my class The Wealthy Barber was required reading and we spent several classes on it.

Other thing I recall from that class was learning about doubling up mortgage payments. My teacher suggested getting roommates when you buy your first house and doubling up payments with revenue from the tenants. I did that for about four years, too, which really chewed down my mortgage early on.

The financial stuff was my biggest takeaway. I remember some talk about drugs or something, but I was pretty checked out of 'just say no' by that point.

I think Slava went to my high school a year ahead of me. Mr. K was my teacher for CALM.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Slava

Of course not. Why have an expert on a topic teach it.

Because you have a teacher teaching it, who is an expert at teaching kids at that level of learning.

Experts in the field can be great for specialized, high level theory and practice courses at the post-secondary level. They aren’t always the best teachers, but post secondary is more self directed learning where the responsibility ultimately falls on the student.

Where experts on the topic would be beneficial is shaping the curriculum. And then leaving it to teachers, who are experts in their field, to teach it.

A teacher who knows how to budget is going to be better at teaching kids how to budget than a financial advisor who doesn’t know how to teach.