(November 23, 2004) — Take a quick glance at your class schedule, that piece of paper that determines what you “productively” accomplish between the hours of 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. To some, namely the students high on top Mt. GPA, the plethora of AP classes they see may represent a ticket to Who-Knows University. From there, they believe that success and happiness in the real world is a hop, skip and jump away. The flames of success and happiness are of course fueled by money. It may be hard to admit for some, but money makes the world go around. It brings one security, stability, peace of mind and, to an extent, a sense of freedom. Money keeps us alive; it provides us with food, shelter and the clothes on our back. Now take a look another look at your schedule. If money is always around us and is evidently important, what class educates us about the subject? To be good at English, we take English classes; to be good at math, we toil over math; to be good at money, we should study money. The only class remotely close to such a feat is one semester of economics. Ironically, this subject is taught when most seniors are too busy to even consider it a serious class. The economics book focuses on money from a general point of view and is split into five units. The first unit gave a general over view of the subject. It then focuses on microeconomics, which consists of demand, supply, prices and market structures. Unit 3 is on macroeconomics. This unit contains chapters on employment, government revenue, government spending, banking and a ten-page chapter on investments. The book only provides definitions and a quick overview of the subject of money. It’s similar to having an English class that teaches you definition after definition of words, but it never teaches you how to apply the words into a personal story you wanted to write. Economics doesn’t give you specific ways on how one can make money work for his or herself. “How are these classes going to help us in the future?” is a question frequently asked by students. Don’t get me wrong. The time and energy placed in four years of English, three years of math, a couple of years of science and a several years of a foreign language don’t go to waste. They prepare students to be workers, dependent on entrepreneurs and bosses who probably didn’t even finish college, namely personalities such as Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Henry Ford and Ted Turner. School is a factory creating workers upon workers. These workers are of course necessary for a society to function, but it seems like students grow up without the option of being anything else. They get a great education, die flat broke and don’t assist their future generations to move up the financial ladder. Students should be taught about the subject of money throughout their schooling. Many will be opposed to this idea because of their general belief that money is the root of all evil. But on the contrary, the lack of money is the root of all evil. Schools should have investment classes, classes discussing taxes and how to work for yourself instead of Uncle Sam and most importantly, schools should have classes dedicated to how to keep wealth once aquired. Without the control of money, a people will spend their entire live, toiling over their job, and missing out on the important moments of life. They will also stay dependent on other people for their survival and if things don’t go their way, responsibility will be placed on the person they were dependent on, instead of themselves. With the knowledge to control a one’s wealth, more time can be spent on life instead of being stuck in the paper chase. More charities and non-profit organizations can be supported, more time can be spent on family and health problems in the future can be contained to a minimum.