Frontline: The Secrect History of the Credit Card

There is no Personal Finance curriculum in Saskatchewan. At all.

One of my assignments last year was to be part of a team that developed a Personal Finance curriculum that would be presentable to Sask Learning. When we looked into what was not covered in the Evergreen curriculum we found many missing elements that would help students achieve some financial security.

A lot of what was missing is basic, but we found that many parents choose not to discuss financial matters with their children and many think that it is inappropriate to discuss finances in school as well. If that is part of the reason there is no Personal Finance element in the Evergreen I do not know, but what I do know is that students are leaving home for jobs or post-secondary education and they have no idea how to handle money.

• There is no place to help students learn about handling money.


• There is no place to help students learn about saving or investing money.


• There is no place to help students learn about budgeting for a week, bi-weekly or month.


• There is no place to help students learn about service charges and bank fees.


• There is no place to help students learn about renting a house vs buying a house.


• There is no place to help students learn about leasing a vehicle vs buying a vehicle.


• There is no place to help students learn about interest rates; And


• There is no place to help students learn about credit cards.
  
  

The link to the video The Secrect History of the Credit Card is a fantastic video that shows the dangers of misusing a credit card. It contains plenty of relevant and interesting facts and will, hopefully, help make the students aware of what could happen.

It gives plenty of facts about credit cards (like they can change the interest rates at any time even AFTER you have used the credit!) along with a history of the credit card and it's influence on society today.

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Because there is no curriculum I cannot link it to anything. However I feel it is a very important, yet missing, element to a young persons life and that is why I have included it here.

National Geographic

National Geographic is known the world over for producing a quality product. The National Geographic website is a fine example of a webpage resource that teachers from any grade can use, especially in science, history or social studies classes.

The website has a huge array of video's, amazing pictures and interesting articles that would be useful to students. There is also a Kids section and an area for educators and a searchable database for past articles, pictures and videos.

Because it is an American publication the information on Canada is not as obvious, so any research involving Canada usually has to be searched out. That being said, as with all National Geograpic material, it's worth the look.

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Because of the wide variety of stuff on the webpage I would use the National Geographic website when teaching a lesson on ancient History. There are plenty of opportunities for learning about past cultures in both the magazine but also the webpage.

When dealing with Unit Two: Measuring Time a fun class project might be a class time capsule like the time capsule from 1791 that was found in Mexico and highlighted on the National Geographic website.

The class would each get to put in an item or two that would stand the test of time, say something about who they are and be able to justify its inclusion.

The article states: "The lead box—filled with religious artifacts, coins, and parchments—was hidden in a hollow stone ball to mark the moment on May 14, 1791, when the building's topmost stone was laid, 218 years after construction had begun on the cathedral."

So I think it would be important to have a good reason for doing this, like a school anniversary or the completion of an addition to the school. Of course if nothing is happening it can still be a fun project for the class to do.

Aboriginal Business Canada

Aboriginal Peoples of Canada have, in many ways, had a tougher time of it than European Canadians. I'm not going to get into the ways they were treated, the genocide, the treaty violations by the Europeans, the residential schools and so on.

What I am going to focus on is the opportunity Aboriginal men and women have at Entrepreneurship.

Aboriginal Business Canada is an Industry Canada program that promotes the growth of commerce as one means towards economic self-sufficiency for all Aboriginal people.

It has a section for young entrepreneurs ages 18-35 that help guide them through the steps of starting and running a business. The site offers help in writing a business plan, getting the business going and financial help.

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The site promises to:

• assist you in identifying small problems before they develop into big ones,
• ensure you are maintaining financial records needed for effective management and for adhering to the requirements of other lending institutions,
• review your progress,
• identify potential new opportunities arising from our knowledge of the Aboriginal marketplace in Canada and around the world, and
• measure the overall success of ABC financing activities and ensure we continue to provide effective services to clients.

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This website is designed with a specific module in mind.

Module 17: Entrepreneurship for Aboriginal Peoples is an optional module in the curriculum, but if you were at a school with a high Aboriginal population like Scott Collegiate or even Robert Usher, it would be a good way to get the Aboriginal students involved.

The site is also useful for many other modules as well including: Initiating a venture, Planning and financing a venture and several more.

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One assignment that would be possible is to have students should explore and investigate the unique opportunities that present themselves to Aboriginal people because of their traditions, culture, and value of community decision making and co-operation. They could interview Aboriginal entrepreneurs for an assignment or look at a business venture that is based on their unique culture.