I recently was in correspondence with the person in charge of extracurricular talks at a private girls’ school we presented to last year on money management. She turned down our offer to speak to the new crop of year 11’s as she didn’t believe they had reached a “point of need” and as a result were not really “thinking about these issues”.
I initially accepted her response as the average run of the mill rejection one often receives in the day to day running of a services oriented business. But then I got indignant on the girls’ behalf. Instead of writing a “Thank you for your time, please be in touch if you change your mind” email, I chose to have my say. This went along the lines that unfortunately the time when need arises, if it does, is often too late for many women, as they face the devastation of divorce or other such life change. Our approach (as with many other life skill topics like drugs etc) is more preventative of nature, so that when life changes occur, the girls are well equipped to deal with them from a financial perspective.
This means, yes, the session can go over the heads of some, but we still strongly believe those that do “get it” deserve the opportunity to learn about this vital topic that could be transformative to their lives. Otherwise the lessons go untaught and the outcome becomes self-fulfilling for many.
What do you think? Is it opportune for Healthy Harold to teach my 10 year old daughter the dangers of drugs? For teaching to be effective does it have to be “point of need” or are we obliged as adults to provide lessons that can make life run a little more smoothly for those prepared to take the effort to listen?
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