John D. Rockefeller, philanthropist and one of the masterminds behind compulsory schooling said, “I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.”

So, what are we being taught in school?

Now, this isn’t to say nothing we learn is beneficial to our development as people, gaining responsibility as well as decision making and team building skills. But it is more a question of what we are learning to further prepare ourselves for the future. We will know how to work, but not where to find it, nor how to create it. We are learning to enter a 9-5 lifestyle and slave away our futures until we can pay off all our debts and afford retirement.

In order to change this, in my opinion, we need to be learning about money management. How do we get into a field to make good money, and how do we make that money work for us? While there are minimal courses to learn these skills such as Financial Literacy, Excel and Word, is it possible to create a system where we prepare more students for the real world? What else could we be learning that would be more beneficial to our lives after high school? Mr. John McGuffin may have an answer for us.

At the young age of eight Mr. McGuffin began looking into income taxes and learning the value of a dollar. At the age of 17, he had bought his first home and turned it into an asset. By 30 he had started his own company.  Part of his process in doing such was always making sure he was surrounded by role models and people who knew more than he did to learn from them.

McGuffin made it clear he would love to see more financial education within schools. This includes topics like loans, how to buy a house or car, bank accounts, and interest rates. As stated previously, Financial Literacy covers a few of these topics, some more than others, but it is only a semester long course and doesn’t go into full depth. He believes we should be taught how to properly invest our money to help that money make more money.

One class Mr. McGuffin feels does a good job getting us started with these skills is his Advanced Mathematics class. The class, although it’s a math class, begins setting us up for some of these future and world problems that are occurring every day. Subjects include learning about voting systems and how different systems can affect the outcome of an election, how to determine profit margins and keep your profit from going to waste, how to get a loan and pay it off and more. He believes the course is not your normal math class and that it will truly prepare you for what is to come ahead.

Although money isn’t everyone’s driving factor, the truth is everyone needs to know how to properly manage their money. If you are a stay-at-home parent, you will still have a mortgage, taxes, and other financial responsibilities. Money is what controls the world and if we do not know tips and tricks on how to acquire, spend, and invest that money it could hurt our society in the future.

“People need to come out of high school understanding what really happens in the real world.” If we do not learn these life skills that are more beneficial to students, when will we? It may just be time for change in our education system