Several of those could each be covered in an article (in a magazine, or online)...and are!
Taxes: Get all the documents showing how much money you got last year, add the amounts on the appropriate lines on the form as directed by that form. Notice how things work "at the margin," that is, you may have paid 8% in taxes but the last dollar you earned might have been taxed at 24%. Also, there's a list of things that give you a tax deduction now (IRA, 403b, 401k) and some that you pay taxes on now but whose growth is tax free later (Roth). Some things are taxed at a lower rate (capital gains vs. earned income). There's a LOT more to know, but it wouldn't be covered in a high school class (Real Estate, small business).
Money Management: Step 1: Spend less than you earn. The rest doesn't matter if you can never tell yourself "no" to buying stuff that "you deserve."
Credit Rating: Pay all debts, pay them on time, paying interest does not improve your rating.
Here's a thought I try to float with new coworkers that I think might be approachable and open to the thought:
-It's better to get 401k matching money and pay off your college loans slower than to miss the matching to pay extra towards the loans. Reason--After the loan is paid off, no matter how much "extra" you then put into the 401k, you won't get more matching than the max amount.
Sometimes, they are not only NOT paying more than the loan repayment minimum, but also aren't putting money into the 401k. "I need a bunch of new furniture" or "After years of driving a crappy car I need to buy a new one, and the salesman said I qualify for XYZ amount of a loan."
If you can't be interested enough to accept the "free money" of the 401k match, having taken a class in high school wouldn't have made a difference.
Thank you. The taxes one is a pet peeve of mine- it’s 2022 and you don’t even need to follow the extremely simple task of going to get paperwork (the IRS being well known as “tax guys” probably being a big clue where to get the paperwork..) and then… follow directions printed on the form and do simple math.. Most people can get a program or tax prep for their simple taxes for $0-70 if it is so mysterious and daunting. School teaches taxes- in college. It’s 4+ years as a tax accountant, attorney etc. so there really isn’t time in high school to teach you how to “do taxes” beyond what I said above and still teach all the other things you might need. Anyone who can complain online about learning taxes also can type: “how to do taxes” into Google- and if someone can’t figure that out school probably needs to spend more time on other things like teaching basic research skills or critical thinking and problem solving.
The student loan/401k advice I think is overall good general advice too. If a company does 401k match you should generally always use it, and max the contribution if you can. There are some exceptions with certain tax situations etc, but in general, get the free money and start the 401k early. In our society most folks will carry so called “good debt” through most or all their adult lives, it’s built into the system to “get ahead” almost demands it, so no particular rush in general on the student loans. It sucks a lot of kids don’t get financial educations at home for various reasons and we probably should offer some sort of resource nicely packaged and advertised to kids- but similar to your conclusion, if we offer Saturday classes or online videos etc. to teach kids smart financial starts…. Are most kids going to jump on those? If they were that hung Ho about it to be willing to give up their free time for it- wouldn’t they have already done so…?
And that is sort of the crux of the thing that is my biggest pet peeve. Let’s blame “adults” for everything. When some kids enter the world and find it hard or find they aren’t getting gold stars now that they are in the big pond- they need someone to blame. If society forced them to learn something then they it was useless and forcing them to learn it harmed them. If they weren’t forced to learn something they say that they were harmed because they weren’t taught what they needed to know. It’s very convenient that it can be anyone and everyone else’s fault that an individual didn’t have the exact knowledge and skills they needed as an adult- except the individual’s. That isn’t to say society doesn’t mess up or fail kids, but people need to own responsibility in their lives. I hear people in their mod 30’s blaming their parents for things all the time. “I’m like this because my mother was cold…” and it’s like- you’ve been grown enough to make your own choices and be your own person…
.. longer than you were a child at home. Whatever your teacher mom or whoever did- you’re in the drivers seat now and whoever is responsible for the past, we are responsible for our own future. I think that we do need to do better at making resources available and known and digestible to those who are interested and might not have access at home, but you can’t make people do things they don’t want to do.
Simply put- most people that will tell you calculus or chemistry were wastes of time and useless subjects are people who don’t use those things in their job. Oddly enough these often seem to be the people who didn’t take those topics or learning in general very seriously and tended to say things back then like “school is a waste of time..” and there is a pattern forming there which I suspect anyone who can figure out a 1040ez tax form might see… it’s almost as if… what you get out of school, or life tends to relate to what you put in.
Lol. The food pyramid one I will say is problematic. For many reasons it just isn’t really a great source of guidance for most people. Though, traditionally most minors don’t become the primary decisions makers in what they eat until they “leave home” and most colleges or learning annexes have and even require nutrition classes- they are usually a semester for “intro” classes and even those don’t give you “everything you need.” So I can say that “don’t eat a bunch of junk and look at the calories” along with maybe a loose guide on macro ratios is enough to get by on and stay healthy for most people.
Very good point on the self defense. That’s another one that is a huge problem. It takes years to become reasonably proficient in most defensive arts and to become “seasoned” enough for most people to do what needs done on reflex. At that for personal safety and legal liability most “self defense” consists of avoiding situations that are likely to cause trouble, deescalation, and…
.. basically running and/or calling for help. “Self defense” in absolute is a way of life- if you aren’t exercising for strength, endurance, speed etc. regularly, you’re generally at a huge disadvantage if you have to physically defend yourself. Common examples may be a mugging (self defense tip- give them what they want- you’ll probably be safest this way… or run of practical…) and sexual assault which you best “defend” against by traveling in groups of trusted friends and watching out for each other, avoiding compromising situations like drinking unattended beverages etc.
Force to force, Proper training can allow those disadvantaged in strength or mass to use things like speed or leverage to their advantage, or tactical brutality- but if we are taking about “fighting off” an attacker- we are generally talking less about some “karate kid” fiction and more about attacks to eyes, throat, groin, soft tissues, joints, etc. the most broadly useful skills for the most likely scenarios…
.. will generally be either:
- brutal and potentially crippling or deadly strikes and locks: eye pokes, chokes and throat strikes, tearing of flesh with fingers or nails (both an attack and a way to collect DNA and leave identifying marks on the attacker), breaking fingers, wrists, noses, etc. biting is a valid and useful attack but runs the risk of contracting fluid born illness etc.
- grapples and ground fighting, basic hood breaking and use of body weight (dead weight) to break holds.
It’s a good idea to know some basic ways to avoid or break standing holds or defend while standing, and rape while standing is obviously possible- but even among skilled combatants fights have a tendency to end up on the ground, and it is also the case that the most common attack in that demographic is going to come from a place of abused trust. The odds of a ground out are high overall especially in common scenarios such as where a target is already prone or semi prone such as where kids..
.. are “fooling around” and one decides they don’t want to stop when the other says no. In a car, on a bed or couch at a party etc. force to force I would emphasize these sorts of scenarios I think- but I’d have to really examine the data to definitively say what statistically was favored. It is generally an accepted fact that in the demographic, sexual assaults are often not so much “violent” as forced- that is to say using pressure or other means the attacker and or their group place the target in a position where they “go along” against their will at the time. Like many self defense scenarios the best thing to start with there is mental conditioning- teaching a mindset that one can say no under any circumstances, and one that acts without hesitation.
To some degree many schools and society in general have started attempting this- at least for young women who tend to be more at risk- though perhaps more emphasis on teaching boys and young men about consent and resisting peer…
.. pressure in such situations- to report friends or not be bystanders or “join in” etc may be of benefit on stressing the primary perpetrators vs. putting all the emphasis on the most likely victims to be responsible for their safety. That is to say- both a a perpetrator and a target must be addressed when we consider safety, it is unfair to place the burden on the target of another’s repugnant actions but unrealistic to not take active steps in protecting ourselves or motivating risks.
Of course- many schools do offer martial arts clubs and wrestling teams where at least some things like grapples and escapes or basic strikes and such can be learned. So having a required curriculum honestly might not be a very effective route.
Who will teach it and what are their qualifications? A class at the Y, 2 years at a mall Dojo that teaches “Kung fu” that is actually almost passable as sport karate? How will every student get the attention needed to ensure proper technique etc? Being poorly trained at self defense is often worse than being not trained at all. Untrained fighters are actually often a pain for trained fighters as they tend to be unpredictable. A savage haymaker can be much more effective than a prediction hold or strike that is placed or executed imprecisely etc. gold breaks often require you apply leverage properly- if done wrong you just end up worse off generally. Having a feeling of training can make a person overconfident- take risks they wouldn’t or stand their ground when they’d normal be looking to run.
But there are bigger problems yet. So… if the whole school learns self defense- doesn’t that include some of the people most likely to be attackers? As a mandatory class- that now means parents sending their kids to school are basic at going to have to release the school from harm if their kids end up hurt or even maimed or killed- no decent self defense class or school is going to not have such a waiver. Teeth and bones get broken. Accidents happen. Someone hits their head on the floor just right and they just drop dead. This stuff happens. Any fight or play fight or sparring etc. has underlying potential to be a fight to the death and should always be approached that way.
On liability- not we have every kid of at least what? Freshmen? Sophomore? Senior? Level- every kid has been trained by the school to hurt other kids. It isn’t a self defense class using force if you aren’t learning how to hurt. Even the most basic self defense classes will teach thing like stepping on an attackers foot or instep etc. if they intend to be effective at all. Otherwise they are just classes on avoiding risk it situations, running, and calling for help. Now- do we really think that it’s a good idea that every single kid in school is taught to hurt each other in school? You probably aren’t going to have 20 dead kids from one wacko that learned a ground punch- but kids are kids and more and more kids are exercising violence against their peers. We can’t keep guns off campuses, keeping hands and feet out of schools might prove hard.
Am I saying that kids that know martial arts are dangerous? No. That’s not the same thing. Martial arts classes are usually chock full of all sorts of life lessons and philosophy. Decent martial arts classes are skills and discipline of mind and body over years, decades, lifetimes of study. Decent martial arts classes will not produce effective fighters after a year or a few years of classes. Depending on the style/teacher etc. you might spend your first 6 months doing physical conditioning and discipline. Learning how to wear your uniform, learning tradition, doing flexibility work, learning terms and how to address people and stand at respect and stand in basic stances etc. you may learn some basic strikes and then spend months or more repeating those basic strikes or maybe a form or two. You probably won’t be told what the form is for or how to use it. Over years things get added and information is given and sparring etc. to show you what those forms you learned are actually for…
So most kids who take martial arts won’t be particularly capable or particularly undisciplined enough to go around school hurting people. Let’s contrast that to common “self defense.” Ok- a “martial art” is what it sounds like- it’s an art for war- those flashy TKD high kicks like where you do a standing split? Those are primarily for kicking dudes off horses- because in historical wars form the region and time- that was something a foot soldier might need.
Then you have “sport arts”- these can be effective for fighting/defense, but they are for sport. Jujutsu teaches you some mean ways to choke people dead or break bones. Judo is adapted to be less “bone breaky” (it still can…) and more “score points at the Olympics or in a tournament.” Kendo practitioners lift their back foot when they strike- it allows faster movement. Most Kenjutsu styles would plant the back foot for a standard strike because you aren’t trying to tap the opponent first to score a point- you are trying to…
.. kill them or incapacitate them with a sword so need enough power to dig through flesh and maybe some protective covering.
Then you have “self defense.” This is a blanket term. It can be a single weekend class involving whistles and repeating a couple simple “canned” escape moves or it can be a lifelong and very serious training regiment. There are overlaps and other categories I don’t mention- but the distinction needs to be clear- arts geared to sports can be used to fight but are generally designed to be “safer.” You’re usually just trying to score points or in more “extreme” combat sports a knock out/tap out. “Martial arts” are for war and most “traditional” martial arts are full of outdated things that aren’t really of practical use because most people don’t end up in fights using the weapons/terrain/tactics of 2-5+ century old warfare- but there are modern martial arts and modernized forms of traditional martial arts.
What these tend to have in common is that it takes a…
.. long time to get “decent” or “effective” in most cases and there tends to be discipline and other lessons woven in. A whole “social system” to keep people mostly in line.
Ok- but when we want to train normal people, people who aren’t going to study for decades or lifetimes and put hours and hours a week or day into practice and conditioning- we are going to cut the fluff. A soldier or your little brother/sister trying to learn to not be a victim of violence- they don’t need lessons on “chi” or “ki” or “energy” or on “harmony” or “the way of the warrior” or whatever. It’s mechanical. We cut the fluff and you don’t need to know where your “style came from” of who your masters master was or how to wear your uniform or tie your belt or a dress seniors etc etc. you need to know how to hurt a human being. You need to be taught through repetition how to harm a human being and to do so as reflexively and without hesitation as practical.
So a major difference between “martial arts” as we tend to call almost any system intended for fighting or sports combat, and effective “self defense” tends to be the curriculum and the barrier between the students growth and understanding of what violence is and means, the responsibilities they hold and their discipline and commitment; and their access to training and information specifically aimed at causing harm to another human being. When a student has been training in a class with maybe 20 other students for a year where they’ve grown close to the same people every day and learned trust and respect, when they are part of a close community and have practiced precision and discipline for all that time and then you allow limited sparring with restrictions on what is allowed or where they may hit, accidents still happen but they are less likely than when you have maybe an hour a week or a two day class or whatever to teach 40+ kids who may not know each other or may hate each other..
.. to gouge each other’s eyes out- but not for realsies. Just pretend… like- some of these kids didn’t have the coordination to dribble a basket ball or can’t hit a T-ball, like not even a slow pitch softball. It’s a recipe for disaster I think. I think learning self defense is something people should do- preferably as part of a program of fitness and discipline from an early age- but schools- especially public schools- are so over taxed and poorly funded that it seems absurd to think that’s the place for that to happen unless we radically shifted our cultural priorities and social order.
Taxes: Get all the documents showing how much money you got last year, add the amounts on the appropriate lines on the form as directed by that form. Notice how things work "at the margin," that is, you may have paid 8% in taxes but the last dollar you earned might have been taxed at 24%. Also, there's a list of things that give you a tax deduction now (IRA, 403b, 401k) and some that you pay taxes on now but whose growth is tax free later (Roth). Some things are taxed at a lower rate (capital gains vs. earned income). There's a LOT more to know, but it wouldn't be covered in a high school class (Real Estate, small business).
Money Management: Step 1: Spend less than you earn. The rest doesn't matter if you can never tell yourself "no" to buying stuff that "you deserve."
Credit Rating: Pay all debts, pay them on time, paying interest does not improve your rating.
No class needed!
-It's better to get 401k matching money and pay off your college loans slower than to miss the matching to pay extra towards the loans. Reason--After the loan is paid off, no matter how much "extra" you then put into the 401k, you won't get more matching than the max amount.
Sometimes, they are not only NOT paying more than the loan repayment minimum, but also aren't putting money into the 401k. "I need a bunch of new furniture" or "After years of driving a crappy car I need to buy a new one, and the salesman said I qualify for XYZ amount of a loan."
If you can't be interested enough to accept the "free money" of the 401k match, having taken a class in high school wouldn't have made a difference.
Simply put- most people that will tell you calculus or chemistry were wastes of time and useless subjects are people who don’t use those things in their job. Oddly enough these often seem to be the people who didn’t take those topics or learning in general very seriously and tended to say things back then like “school is a waste of time..” and there is a pattern forming there which I suspect anyone who can figure out a 1040ez tax form might see… it’s almost as if… what you get out of school, or life tends to relate to what you put in.
Also what kid of self-defence specifically? Just let kids fight each other? Sounds like a fun gym class.
Very good point on the self defense. That’s another one that is a huge problem. It takes years to become reasonably proficient in most defensive arts and to become “seasoned” enough for most people to do what needs done on reflex. At that for personal safety and legal liability most “self defense” consists of avoiding situations that are likely to cause trouble, deescalation, and…
Force to force, Proper training can allow those disadvantaged in strength or mass to use things like speed or leverage to their advantage, or tactical brutality- but if we are taking about “fighting off” an attacker- we are generally talking less about some “karate kid” fiction and more about attacks to eyes, throat, groin, soft tissues, joints, etc. the most broadly useful skills for the most likely scenarios…
- brutal and potentially crippling or deadly strikes and locks: eye pokes, chokes and throat strikes, tearing of flesh with fingers or nails (both an attack and a way to collect DNA and leave identifying marks on the attacker), breaking fingers, wrists, noses, etc. biting is a valid and useful attack but runs the risk of contracting fluid born illness etc.
- grapples and ground fighting, basic hood breaking and use of body weight (dead weight) to break holds.
It’s a good idea to know some basic ways to avoid or break standing holds or defend while standing, and rape while standing is obviously possible- but even among skilled combatants fights have a tendency to end up on the ground, and it is also the case that the most common attack in that demographic is going to come from a place of abused trust. The odds of a ground out are high overall especially in common scenarios such as where a target is already prone or semi prone such as where kids..
To some degree many schools and society in general have started attempting this- at least for young women who tend to be more at risk- though perhaps more emphasis on teaching boys and young men about consent and resisting peer…
Of course- many schools do offer martial arts clubs and wrestling teams where at least some things like grapples and escapes or basic strikes and such can be learned. So having a required curriculum honestly might not be a very effective route.
Then you have “sport arts”- these can be effective for fighting/defense, but they are for sport. Jujutsu teaches you some mean ways to choke people dead or break bones. Judo is adapted to be less “bone breaky” (it still can…) and more “score points at the Olympics or in a tournament.” Kendo practitioners lift their back foot when they strike- it allows faster movement. Most Kenjutsu styles would plant the back foot for a standard strike because you aren’t trying to tap the opponent first to score a point- you are trying to…
Then you have “self defense.” This is a blanket term. It can be a single weekend class involving whistles and repeating a couple simple “canned” escape moves or it can be a lifelong and very serious training regiment. There are overlaps and other categories I don’t mention- but the distinction needs to be clear- arts geared to sports can be used to fight but are generally designed to be “safer.” You’re usually just trying to score points or in more “extreme” combat sports a knock out/tap out. “Martial arts” are for war and most “traditional” martial arts are full of outdated things that aren’t really of practical use because most people don’t end up in fights using the weapons/terrain/tactics of 2-5+ century old warfare- but there are modern martial arts and modernized forms of traditional martial arts.
What these tend to have in common is that it takes a…
Ok- but when we want to train normal people, people who aren’t going to study for decades or lifetimes and put hours and hours a week or day into practice and conditioning- we are going to cut the fluff. A soldier or your little brother/sister trying to learn to not be a victim of violence- they don’t need lessons on “chi” or “ki” or “energy” or on “harmony” or “the way of the warrior” or whatever. It’s mechanical. We cut the fluff and you don’t need to know where your “style came from” of who your masters master was or how to wear your uniform or tie your belt or a dress seniors etc etc. you need to know how to hurt a human being. You need to be taught through repetition how to harm a human being and to do so as reflexively and without hesitation as practical.