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Amazingly high levels of financial illiteracy
It summarizes an article by 2 economists who asked people around the world the following 3 questions. At least to me, the low levels of correct responses were shockingly high and give me more perspective on why people may make what I consider to be really irrational money choices.
1. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and
the interest rate was 2 percent per year. After five years, how much do
you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?
A) more than $102; 
exactly $102; C) less than $102; D) do not know;
refuse to answer.
2. Imagine that the interest rate on your savings
account is 1 percent per year and inflation is 2 percent per year. After
one year, would you be able to buy A) more than, exactly the same
as, or C) less than today with the money in this account?; D) do not
know; refuse to answer.
3. Do you think that the following statement is
true or false? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer
return than a stock mutual fund.” A) true; false; C) do not know;
refuse to answer.
Re: Amazingly high levels of financial illiteracy
There are tables in the report that show how many people in each country answered each question correctly if you are interested, but in the US in 2009 64.9% answered question 1 correctly, 64.3% got question 2 and 51.8% were right about question 3. So, it's true that the the 30% figure in the article I linked (which is the percent of people who answered all 3 questions correctly) is lower than the level for any individual question. Maybe that means people know a bit more than than 30% suggests, but the authors make the case that to effectively manage money, especially in a context where retirement savings is increasingly managed by individuals, people need to do be able to answer all 3 questions correctly.
I have been blessed with good math genes and a family who is financially savvy, so I thought the questions in the article were pretty straight forward. I still find a lot of investing over my head (or at least requiring more time than I have been able to find to understand it); I can only imagine what it must be like for people who find those questions difficult.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
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Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
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One of my best friends has gotten really active in the anti-CC movement around here, and she said one entertaining aspect is that everyone in her group is either very liberal or very conservative. It's uniting the polar ends of the spectrum. I'm trying to learn more about it in my news reading time.
My brother hates the common core since it usually is tied to teacher performance. Your students have to show a certain level of improvement from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year in respect to not only themselves, but to all students.
I have friends with a son that is very smart but has other issues. They both agree that if any teacher tells their son that he doesn't pass when he gets the right answer using the old way they will have a serious talking to the teacher and the school. She has two Masters in Engineering including Chemical Engineering and loves math.
Now, having said all that, I don't believe a teacher should just be able to teach whatever they want- that's how you hear about students who took US history and never got past the Civil War, or whatever, but there has to be some common sense. Teachers aren't robots- and our differences are our strengths. Most teachers I know work hard to do what they need to for their students, but it's those teachers who are there just collecting a paycheck, or just there to coach, that are the reason that we have these stupid programs put into place. Oh, that and the fact that there is not much parental involvement, and student's no longer do much homework.
Sorry if you read all that- hot topic for me, if you can't tell. And this is with me staying at home for the past year, and possibly not returning to teaching until DS is in K.
As others have pointed out, there have been a lot of problems during the initial implementation stages. I've read some defenses of Common Core saying that a lot of the problems people are using as examples are really the result of poor curriculum rather that Common Core itself. For example, I don't think Common Core requires that all lessons be taught using a computer, but some districts are using curricula to teach to Common Core standards that do rely on computer based learning. It seems like that would be pretty hard for the average parent to sort out, but I'm not surprised that there have been problems given how widespread the changes are. I'm soon to get some personal experience with how it plays out for our kids, so I'll probably have a more informed opinion in the next couple of years.