More economics studies, please!
Authors: Gregor Pihlak, Tom Enriko Kelt
Graduate students of Tallinn Secondary School of Science
It was late October when our school’s director Ene Saar asked us to make a presentation on the teaching of economics in Estonian schools. We immediately knew how to do it.
In Tallinn Secondary School of Science we have 4 different fields of study, one of them is Sciences and Economics and luckily Gregor is a student in the given field.
Some know economics well, others do not
Our idea was to make a comparison of two different students, one a student of economics and the other coming from a different background. This was an excellent way to show some of the weaknesses of the current educational system, where students have completely different know-hows in the field of economics.
For example: unlike Gregor, Tom Enriko studies in the field of Sciences and Medicine. This means that Tom Enriko had no lessons in economics whatsoever. And even though he might not know how to invest or all the terminology there is, he still manages fine. For example, when Tom Enriko went to work in the summer he wasn’t surprised by the fact that his pay was 20% lower than in the contract – he knew that it was taxes he was paying.
Students want to study more!
The problem that we both see is that the current educational system provides the basics for getting by in a society, but we as students are a lot more interested in the subject than the current curriculum can realistically provide.
In general, more people with good financial literacy means more people who are wealthy and financially wise. And that itself is the basis for a prosperous country. So what better time is there to start teaching financial wisdom than in school?