Bloomberg University: Required Reading

Here. The recent economic conditions caused me to become very interested in not just making money (I've always been a capitalist : ), but also in keeping a careful eye on it. In the past, I've let most of the "keeping an eye on it" be done by a financial advisor (I've had one since I was 22). These days, I have a stack of financial books that I'm reading [1] and it's been a fabulous educational experience. Given the supreme importance of money in our society, I think everyone should know the basics of money management. I'm very disappointed that I made it all the way through high school, let alone college, with no more instruction then how to fill in a check (something we want folks to do less of, not more!). Towards that end, I really love Bloomberg University’s no-frills financial tutorials, including one on the basics of a 401(k) and another on the basics of investing. They provide just the tip of the iceberg and I could recommend a lot of other reading, but this is a good place to start for folks that want to actually keep the money they make. [1] http://www.sellsbrothers.com/money

Though not as well read, I've been developing the same opinion about economics & education. I've (poorly) expressed my opinions in my submission in answer to the Department of Education’s open request for ideas for the National Education Technology Plan http://www.nationaledtechplan.org/why.asp . My idea can be found here: http://www.stormpages.com/futureintent/NationalEducationTechnologyPlanSuggestions.htm

The one point I make related to your comment: Every student graduating from High School should receive a personal copy that they can run on their PC of the best economic model that academia/government has produced to date… one that they can run and test their life choices against. The model should be visible to the point that the student can examine its underlying assumptions and dependencies. Some open development platform like Squeak www.squeak.org should be able to handle such an application.

Aspects of the model could be used by teachers throughout the student's courses while at High School, etc.