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Comment by the_watcher | Hacker News Reader

Going back to the accounting/personal finance piece, I did a year of law school, and it was absolutely stunning how many of my classmates had no idea what compound interest was (more insane given that most of them were debt funding their education with high interest, non-dischargeable loans that now compound immediately upon taking them out), or that opportunity cost was something they should have considered when evaluating the cost of school.

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It is the parents' job to make sure their child is being educated. If the school is doing a poor job, the parent should switch schools or supplement the education at home.

I say this because I think people used more common sense about money 100 years ago. They likely learned it at home, not at school.

They probably did. Parents assume that their kids will learn anything they need to know in school, rather than ensure their kids know something by teaching it themselves.

>> I say this because I think people used more common sense about money 100 years ago. They likely learned it at home, not at school.

This is true, but 100 years ago, compulsory public education until ~age 18 was much less common, people simply had less money, and credit was not ubiquitous the way it is now. I agree parents need to take responsibility for filling in the gaps of school, but that doesn't mean you can't also advocate for the schools filling those gaps themselves.

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