Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
FINANCIAL EDUCATION
“The ancient Greeks
believed in teaching people to think
We train our young
to simply do as they are told”
Right from my days in high school I’ve always question the efficacy of the formal educational system. I have always wondered why formal education was so important? Why is it so important when it seemed like most of the richest people and the most successful entrepreneurs in our world either didn’t go to the university or dropped out of it?
Here are just a few examples;
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue his dream of Microsoft.
Michael Dell dropped out of the University of Texas to focus on Dell computers.
Richard Branson dropped out of High school.
So why is school so important?
Many years ago I read a book by Brain Sheer titled “making money out of thin air”. One of the chapters read “if you want to be rich, don’t go to school”. So does this mean that the formal educational system is useless?
Well I think not. However I think the formal educational system if flawed and incomplete. I think it’s incomplete because it left out a vital part. In fact In my opinion it left out the most important part which is financial education.
Here are some reasons I think the educational system is flawed and incomplete.
1. The formal educational system creates employees not employers
This flaw in the formal educational system is perhaps one of the biggest flaws and its been argued that this flaw was deliberately put there by those who created the modern day educational system. Many say it’s a conspiracy that is supposed to keep people under. Here is a statement by G. Edward Griffin to support that thought.
“the purpose of the foundation(the general education board) was to use the power of money, not to raise the level of education in America as was widely believed at the time, but to influence the direction of that education… the objective was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be passive and submissive to their rulers. The goal was – and – is to create citizens who were educated enough for productive work under supervision but not enough to question authority or seek to rise above their class. True education was to be restricted to the sons and daughters of the elite. For the rest, it would be better to produce skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life”
G Edward Griffin
in the creature from Jekyll Island
on the Rockefeller General; Education Board
founded in 1903.
Culled from Rich dad’s conspiracy of the rich.
Call it a conspiracy or not, it is obvious that most of the courses in our educational system are supposed to make you a good employee. Yet around the world, particularly at this time there are more cries on the government to create more jobs. How are they supposed to do that? Any government that creates more jobs without first creating more entrepreneurs is signing up for debt, big debt, because more people would be paid for doing jobs that less people can do and when a government spends more than it is making, the only way out would be to get into debt.
So instead of saying the government should create more jobs, we should say they should help create more entrepreneurs. Which means people should seek a different kind of education and in my opinion we can’t get that kind of education in our classrooms. At least not yet. This leads me to what I think is the second flaw in the formal educational system.
2. The formal educational system does not teach people how to have their money work for them.
This is another point to note. Money is a very important part of our lives whether we admit it or not and to think that the subject of such importance is not really taught in schools is very sad. This point is not unconnected to the first point I raised saying that the formal educational system creates employees not employers. Our current educational system comes from the Prussian system(modern day Germany), a system designed to create good employees and soldiers, people who blindly follow orders, waiting to be told what to do, including what to do with their money.
In school we are taught and programmed to work for money and not to have our money work for us. So when some of us find out the possibility of our money working for us we go around looking for someone to tell us what to do with it. So some finance expert “who is probably an employee too” would tell us to put it in the stock market and we do, later he says take it out and put it in so and so business and we do. This makes us lose money most times as Warren Buffet would say “it’s only on wall street that people would drive in a Rolls Royce to take financial advice from someone who takes the subways”. This is because we don’t know how to handle our money. It’s not the stock market or business that makes you rich, its knowledge. Knowledge is the new currency. So if you want to be rich you have to play it the way the rich do. You have to start learning how to make you money work very hard for you and where do you get such knowledge? Definitely not in our current educational system.
3. The formal educational system punishes people for making mistakes.
In our current educational system, failure is a taboo; failing makes your life a living hell. Maybe worse. So students grow up primarily with the fear of failing, which translates into the fear of even trying. People don’t ever want to try new things because failing will attract punishment. Do you remember those days when your test scripts were to be delivered to you? Well, I do. If you failed, your teacher would beat the living daylight out of you, your classmates will laugh at you and then you’ll still have some explaining to do to your parents. But does a child get beaten when he is trying to walk and falls down? No, he is encouraged to try again, and again and again until he gets it right. Now you can see a big flaw in our educational system. That child goes on ahead to walk and even run but the students lives the rest of his life afraid of failing or even trying. This is not to encourage failing but to encourage those that fail that they can be more than they presently are.
4. The Formal Educational System uses the teaching technique that produces the lowest level of learning
People learn better by doing the real thing, using simulations of real life experiences, games or participating in group discussions, but in school we’re mostly taught by the reading and lecture method which is the least way of learning in what is called the cone of learning.
Participating in group discussions according to the school system is called cheating especially during tests. Yet we expect these individualistic minds to sit together at a board meeting and collectively come up with ideas as a team. How ironic. I guess this explains why most board meetings are spent arguing over little things because to all of us individually, what we have to say is better than what the other person has to say. Yet the bible says “two heads are better than one”.
I said earlier that the current educational system is not useless but just flawed and incomplete. I think its still relevant because it gives us two things;
1. Academic Education; the ability to read, write and solve basic math problems
2. Professional Education; which is the knowledge of a trade in which to earn money. Like being a doctor, lawyer etc. but in today’s world it takes more than professional education to be financially successful.
So what’s missing?
Financial Education; which is essential to financial intelligence which is an ability to make your money work hard for you so as to help you pass it on to generations unborn. So where can you get this kind of education? First, you cannot get them in school, at least not yet. You could get them in books, seminars and conferences. As Mark Twain said “I have never let school interfere with my education”. Neither should you.
Here are some books, websites and blogs that have been useful to me and I hope would be to you too.
Richest man in Babylon
Rich dad, poor dad
Think and Grow rich
The game of money
Why we want you to be rich
www.dgameofmoney.blogspot.com
Richdadworld.com
Play more of these board games- monopoly and cashflow
For more info on the Prussian educational system please Google Prussian educational system.
believed in teaching people to think
We train our young
to simply do as they are told”
Right from my days in high school I’ve always question the efficacy of the formal educational system. I have always wondered why formal education was so important? Why is it so important when it seemed like most of the richest people and the most successful entrepreneurs in our world either didn’t go to the university or dropped out of it?
Here are just a few examples;
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue his dream of Microsoft.
Michael Dell dropped out of the University of Texas to focus on Dell computers.
Richard Branson dropped out of High school.
So why is school so important?
Many years ago I read a book by Brain Sheer titled “making money out of thin air”. One of the chapters read “if you want to be rich, don’t go to school”. So does this mean that the formal educational system is useless?
Well I think not. However I think the formal educational system if flawed and incomplete. I think it’s incomplete because it left out a vital part. In fact In my opinion it left out the most important part which is financial education.
Here are some reasons I think the educational system is flawed and incomplete.
1. The formal educational system creates employees not employers
This flaw in the formal educational system is perhaps one of the biggest flaws and its been argued that this flaw was deliberately put there by those who created the modern day educational system. Many say it’s a conspiracy that is supposed to keep people under. Here is a statement by G. Edward Griffin to support that thought.
“the purpose of the foundation(the general education board) was to use the power of money, not to raise the level of education in America as was widely believed at the time, but to influence the direction of that education… the objective was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be passive and submissive to their rulers. The goal was – and – is to create citizens who were educated enough for productive work under supervision but not enough to question authority or seek to rise above their class. True education was to be restricted to the sons and daughters of the elite. For the rest, it would be better to produce skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life”
G Edward Griffin
in the creature from Jekyll Island
on the Rockefeller General; Education Board
founded in 1903.
Culled from Rich dad’s conspiracy of the rich.
Call it a conspiracy or not, it is obvious that most of the courses in our educational system are supposed to make you a good employee. Yet around the world, particularly at this time there are more cries on the government to create more jobs. How are they supposed to do that? Any government that creates more jobs without first creating more entrepreneurs is signing up for debt, big debt, because more people would be paid for doing jobs that less people can do and when a government spends more than it is making, the only way out would be to get into debt.
So instead of saying the government should create more jobs, we should say they should help create more entrepreneurs. Which means people should seek a different kind of education and in my opinion we can’t get that kind of education in our classrooms. At least not yet. This leads me to what I think is the second flaw in the formal educational system.
2. The formal educational system does not teach people how to have their money work for them.
This is another point to note. Money is a very important part of our lives whether we admit it or not and to think that the subject of such importance is not really taught in schools is very sad. This point is not unconnected to the first point I raised saying that the formal educational system creates employees not employers. Our current educational system comes from the Prussian system(modern day Germany), a system designed to create good employees and soldiers, people who blindly follow orders, waiting to be told what to do, including what to do with their money.
In school we are taught and programmed to work for money and not to have our money work for us. So when some of us find out the possibility of our money working for us we go around looking for someone to tell us what to do with it. So some finance expert “who is probably an employee too” would tell us to put it in the stock market and we do, later he says take it out and put it in so and so business and we do. This makes us lose money most times as Warren Buffet would say “it’s only on wall street that people would drive in a Rolls Royce to take financial advice from someone who takes the subways”. This is because we don’t know how to handle our money. It’s not the stock market or business that makes you rich, its knowledge. Knowledge is the new currency. So if you want to be rich you have to play it the way the rich do. You have to start learning how to make you money work very hard for you and where do you get such knowledge? Definitely not in our current educational system.
3. The formal educational system punishes people for making mistakes.
In our current educational system, failure is a taboo; failing makes your life a living hell. Maybe worse. So students grow up primarily with the fear of failing, which translates into the fear of even trying. People don’t ever want to try new things because failing will attract punishment. Do you remember those days when your test scripts were to be delivered to you? Well, I do. If you failed, your teacher would beat the living daylight out of you, your classmates will laugh at you and then you’ll still have some explaining to do to your parents. But does a child get beaten when he is trying to walk and falls down? No, he is encouraged to try again, and again and again until he gets it right. Now you can see a big flaw in our educational system. That child goes on ahead to walk and even run but the students lives the rest of his life afraid of failing or even trying. This is not to encourage failing but to encourage those that fail that they can be more than they presently are.
4. The Formal Educational System uses the teaching technique that produces the lowest level of learning
People learn better by doing the real thing, using simulations of real life experiences, games or participating in group discussions, but in school we’re mostly taught by the reading and lecture method which is the least way of learning in what is called the cone of learning.
Participating in group discussions according to the school system is called cheating especially during tests. Yet we expect these individualistic minds to sit together at a board meeting and collectively come up with ideas as a team. How ironic. I guess this explains why most board meetings are spent arguing over little things because to all of us individually, what we have to say is better than what the other person has to say. Yet the bible says “two heads are better than one”.
I said earlier that the current educational system is not useless but just flawed and incomplete. I think its still relevant because it gives us two things;
1. Academic Education; the ability to read, write and solve basic math problems
2. Professional Education; which is the knowledge of a trade in which to earn money. Like being a doctor, lawyer etc. but in today’s world it takes more than professional education to be financially successful.
So what’s missing?
Financial Education; which is essential to financial intelligence which is an ability to make your money work hard for you so as to help you pass it on to generations unborn. So where can you get this kind of education? First, you cannot get them in school, at least not yet. You could get them in books, seminars and conferences. As Mark Twain said “I have never let school interfere with my education”. Neither should you.
Here are some books, websites and blogs that have been useful to me and I hope would be to you too.
Richest man in Babylon
Rich dad, poor dad
Think and Grow rich
The game of money
Why we want you to be rich
www.dgameofmoney.blogspot.com
Richdadworld.com
Play more of these board games- monopoly and cashflow
For more info on the Prussian educational system please Google Prussian educational system.
Friday, July 16, 2010
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