Meet the students learning how to become millionaires in a school district where many parents...

marketwatch.com ^ | May 5, 2019

[grundle]

Full title: Meet the students learning how to become millionaires in a school district where many parents don’t have bank accounts

The program was started in the fall of 2015 by Dan LaSalle, who was an English teacher at the time, and is now the school’s assistant principal. The first year, 30 students were enrolled; this year there are 81. Olney, which became a charter school in 2011, has just over 2,000 students. The high school is made up of 60% Hispanic, 32% black and 1% white students. In 2012, it had a 50% graduation rate, and this year it’s on track to have a 70% rate.

Students who sign up for Olney’s program take three personal finance classes and have the option to work as few or as many hours as they’d like within the school to earn money. They can make between $50 and $5,000 during the school year, and the jobs range from teaching and tutoring to running clubs at the school — sometimes ones they create themselves.

“I teach them ‘index funds, index funds, index funds,’” LaSalle said when we first spoke about the program. I recently spent a day with LaSalle and many of the program’s students, and he teaches them a lot more than that.

[struggle]

I had a buddy that was formerly a cop with the New Orleans police retire and then teach history in Jackson Mississippi. He started an investment club where they invested a fake $10,000 based on stock market. The school was one of the worst in Mississippi but they ended up winning the state competition and literally had a 60% ROI over 6 months.

[Menehune56]

North Philadelphia.

[EEGator]

a.k.a. Hell

[Veto!]

In the early ‘80s, the LA times did a story on a stock broker who had watched kids dealing drugs on the street, He picked up a couple of them and took them to the stock exchange to watch the proceedings.

“This is legal?” they asked. “It’s just like what we do.”

As I understand it, the kids went back to school and learned to become stock brokers.

My son had a 6th grade teacher who gave the kids play money and taught them about investing. My kid made millions. I wish he’d remember how to do that.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. Made perfect sense. Next I read “The Millionaire Next Door”. Got half-way through it. I was doing all that stuff. No need to.

[DIRTYSECRET]

You’ll never get to the snowflakes and resist people. They’d rather have nothing to lose.

[abb]

Ping

[DUMBGRUNT]

He still works with the school’s debate team, which sent two duos of debaters to the state tournament last year. He and his partner were two spots from making it to the national tournament last year, but his partner got shot near his home, and his mother then moved him to another state.

WOW!
I doubt that anyone from my old high school's debate team was ever shot at, in all of history.

[dsc]

“The high school is made up of 60% Hispanic, 32% black and 1% white students.”

Great googly moogly: what white parents would throw their kid into a meat grinder like that?

[minnesota_bound]

Step 1: Never vote for democrats or anyone wanting higher taxes. That is your money.

Step 2: Learn about investing in stock, get a 401k, create a savings account.

Step 3: watch over your money and never let others do so.

[married21]

My brother taught a personal finance class to at risk kids one time. He said they were very attentive, because making money was a subject that was of deep concern to them, and they were ambitious about it.

[Tired of Taxes]

This is a great idea. Instead of teaching the students that money is evil, he’s teaching them how to save, invest, and spend money wisely.

(Posted a duplicate thread that I’ve asked to be deleted.)

[KittyKares]

It would have been very helpful if I’d had classes like that in school.

[metmom]

It would have been very helpful if I’d had classes like that in school.

Public schools are too interested in indoctrinating kids to become good little socialists to bother teaching them any useful life skills.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Teach me

[abb]

Step One: Spend less than your income, and invest the difference in an S&P index fund. Do so without fail EVERY pay period.

Step Two: See Step One.

[Susquehanna Patriot]

Thanks ABB.

Good that VA, AL, UT, MO and TN require high-school students to take a personal-finance class. It will benefit the young people who learn good financial behavior and then live accordingly.

In addition, GOP states should get behind this as the fruits could grow within a generation, not only personally for the students, but politically as millions could demand public financial accountability at all levels.