i’m most certain that every school in the nation teaches economics 101.

i learned how to balance a checkbook in elementary school, we had sex ed classes, too. look how good it did. not really.

My DD is 2 1/2 and I am trying to teach her already. Yes she is young, but she needs to know that you have to pay for stuff when you leave the store and that you can’t always buy everything you want. I will continue to teach her about personal finance and hope that she is responsible. You can’t just leave the teaching to teachers in school.

By the way, my parents didn’t teach me a thing about finances growing up, its something I learned on my own. Not everyone is stupid when it comes to finances.

So you can’t put the same constraints on the society now versus then. Thus the sex education then wasn’t enough then and isn’t enough now.

And I learned the bare minimum in school. Not enough. And no personal finance. Which might explain why people have trouble balancing a checkbook.

it’s funny how you are placing any kind of political bias on me considering I haven’t much shown my political card. I never said the govt shouldn’t help. Unless you want to live in a society where govt dictates all facets of personal choice, what I stated was that personal responsibility issues are just that: personal and should start at that level. The govt can and should act, which it most certainly does quite a bit; however, just like in other free countries, it comes down to who you learn values and at what level, and that ain’t at the govt level.

i’m a bit tired of people making the argument ath people are essentially stupid when it comes to sex and finances. not spending more than you make is being financially savy. that’s the basics. and where did you learn about sex and its consequences? from govt programs or from those around you? if you learned nothing or not enough in sex ed at school, then i would say the latter, which is exactly my point.

i would contend that there is an oblivious nature to kids’ perceptions of STDs and their individual risks, and it’s a more a function of it can’t happen to me. but, if they have no idea, it’s because their families aren’t involved and they are learning from their friends. again, my argument. far more people in the US do not want govt being involved at that level.

if STD and preganancy rates were lower for teens’ parents, the parents obviously were educated on the subject. So if parents are educated, and govt policy (sex ed) has been consistent (which it has), then the parents are not passing on their knowledge to their kids for whatever reason. The studies into teen std and pregnancy rates suggest this.

Now moving back to teaching personal responsibility. You sound like a liberatarian. Like the government shouldn’t help anyone and everyone can do it on their own.

Truth is that many parents are as uneducated as their children. And they haven’t got a clue. They can’t help guide their kids because they are as lost as the kids.

Yes you need to teach the basics of sex education and personal finance. An educated society is more successful. We’re not talking college, book smarts, but basic health and financial learning.

You are assuming that people are born with some innate sense about everything. I have to say they are not. Would I be financially savvy if I hadn’t had guidance from my parents? No.

Did I learn enough sex education in school? No. Did I learn more than now? Yes. I at least learned that having sex had more consequences than pregnancy. How many teens do you really think can connect they can catch and STD and not show any signs?

Exactly why something like 1 in 3 teens has an STD currently. Because most have no idea.

most people understand the simple concept of don’t spend more than you make. people are lazy and people choose not to adhere to the simple principle. ok, understanding how to invest in different investment vehicles takes some learning, but that too is a function of self-motivation. Anyone can put money into a savings account at the very least. You cannot teach, whoever you are, someone who is not willing to be taught.

yes, the govt has a sex ed policy, but if anyone believes that kids learn about sex/std prevention etc, from these programs, they are living in lala land. BTW, US does not have the highest teen pregnancy rate, std and abortion rates in the world. However, that is a useless argument since it is difficult to get accurate information in many countries.

don’t think we are saying the law is no sex before marriage; however, i agree that american sexual morrays are far different than other countries, but again that is a social learning issue and who better to convey than the family.

I think Happy Rock understands. And by the way, I get it opinion, just letting those know if you don’t like it here, don’t read my opinion.

Example, we teach our children abstinence only. We don’t teach sex education, and thus have the highest teen pregnancy, teen abortion and teen STD rates internationally. The direct conclusion is that we aren’t as open as Europeans yes. But we also aren’t even TRYING to teach personal responsibility. Instead we are saying the law is no sex before marriage, but that’s not REALISTIC.

It’s like saying to people “no debt ever”. It is bad. But we don’t explain and teach people about debt, what it is and why.

Well we teach people about sex, preventing STDs and pregnancy, that will raise awareness of personal responsibility because it will go hand in hand with explaining sex.

Like teaching personal finance. You have $20 but you write a check for $30, it doesn’t work. Why? Because you don’t have the money. There is a serious disconnect with reality in this country as shown in our abstinence only programs.

Do you really expect a 31 year old single man to be a virgin until he marries? I have one living in my house and I would say he’s normal. Is it wrong for him to not be “abstaining” until marriage? Well according to what we’re taught yes. And if he never marries it’s wrong.

Well here’s the deal. Reality check. He might have some relationships along the way. But he should have been aware of all aspects of life rather than just having information about one route.

And like debt, we can’t expect people to just be born with financial knowledge. Or expect parents to educate people. It’s obvious some parents think it’s not good, and unnecessary.

Well we have to start educating our society. By the way that takes money. The failure of 401k as retirement vehicles have shown that lack of education has deeply contributed to people’s failure to save.

But we’re now autoenrolling them and telling them there isn’t a pension? Funny that we have to help people so much. And they are accepting the government’s help.

By the way the bailouts. I have an opinion on that too later.

I hope that comment didn’t distract from my points about respecting each other opinion and working together not to tear down each other.

As far as personality responsibility it sounds like we agree, we need more of it. Americans don’t have a great track record on a lot of issues. I like the your word guiding. The government can try guiding but things like bailouts are control. Creating ‘energy’ jobs is control. Creating incentives for private business and people is more in the line with guiding. Getting your own house in order like you said is guiding. Government needs get their own personal finance house in order and it does effect people, we are agreed. The problem is that the more power you give government and the more you take away from people the less accountability the government has, the more they can do whatever they want no matter what the people want.

If we think in parental terms, I think the analogy works to some degree. If a parent constantly takes control of the child, bails them out, constantly feeds them money, and doesn’t let them learn from the cause and effect of consequences which kind of child is produced.