I remember my grandparents telling me how they were taught really useful home economics skills in school. My experience of this lesson was learning how to make a bland lasagne and care for your tupperware. But they actually learned economics - how to manage the family budget and make your money stretch further etc.
Now, it seems, these skills are dying away with that generation as more and more teenagers and young professionals fail to take seriously the long-term implications of spending money they don't have and embarking on a lifetime of debt through personal loan financing. They appear completely ignorant to even the individual consequences of their borrowing habits, let alone those facing the economy as a whole.
According to the Mortgage Introducer web site, “over half of Britain’s young people are in debt by the time they reach the age of 17 and think overdrafts and credit cards are an easy way to spend more than they can afford, setting a pattern for the rest of their life.”
Is it time for a serious look at the curriculum? Somehow, I don't think raising an army of clueless teens with average lasagne skills is going to eradicate the problem.
