Wilbraham & Monson Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, [and alma mater of Dick Fuld] will officially unveil a classroom that simulates a stock-market trading floor. "Students can use state-of-the-art financial-markets software to learn to research, analyze, and decipher patterns in the context of a financial trading environment," the school said. "Class discussions will complement the analysis, focusing on issues such as business ethics, economic development, and the interconnected global financial system."A lack of financial literacy played a large part in creating the problems that drove the U.S. economy into the recession. "In light of the problems that have arisen in the subprime mortgage market, we are reminded of how critically important it is for individuals to become financially literate at an early age so that they are better prepared to make decisions and navigate an increasingly complex financial marketplace," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech last year.
High School Trading Floor Offers Finance Lab to Students [WSJ via The Deal]
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:07PM
Will they get to enjoy chairs being thrown at them?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:11PM
They must get Fuld in to teach.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:11PM
@2 and Erin Callan.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:16PM
This sure smells like a Dick Fuld idea.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Improving financial literacy? How about we start at learning how to balance a checking account and avoiding credit card debt?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:16PM
Maybe they could spend an extra million for an office in one corner and let Thain pretend he was hired as CEO of Lehman in an alternate universe where it didn't fail.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:21PM
i bet the mid-terms will be a vending machine challenge
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:26PM
how do they teach sex ed at this school?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:26PM
After class do they all go to an adjoining classroom that is setup like a MPD nightclub and cavort with Latvian hookers?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:28PM
Is there a cooking class?
"Cooking Books 101"-4 credits
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:31PM
@4 that would make way to much sense. Can't have that going on in American Education
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:34PM
High school grads trading? Are you sure it isn't a mock up of the Bear mortgage desk?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:36PM
why spend millions on a classroom like this when all you have to do is go to PS 101 at recess?
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:38PM
I want to make love to Becky Quick's lazy eye.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:38PM
Absolutely idiotic idea. Completely agree with 4. beyond dumb.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:40PM
@4 dead on. This is the dumbest idea in a while. While I admit we are not there yet, this is uncomfortably approaching Euro-style education which pigeon-holes students into apprenticeships and job-skills training well before they choose a university.
Are you a French or Italian student that sucks at math? Too bad, you fail.
This type of education only pushes more students into finance which, funnily enough, is exactly what has caused the present "brain-hoarding" within the financial sector (at the expense of politics, medecine, law, and coutnless other important professions.)
The benefits for those who do have a natural interest in finance are huge - no doubt about it. And the lessons taught will most likely be valuable to the majority of students who are exposed. While that is important and certainly postive, I believe it detracts from what these kids really need to be taught at that age: (a) how to study, (b) how to work with others, (c) how to achieve in life, and (d) how not to become a mother or father as a teenager.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:43PM
medecine, law, and coutnless
(e) how to spell
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:43PM
15 Agree totally, but I would add financial literacy to the list (which actually may be a subset of "c"). Lesson 1: avoiding getting out of college with a few thousand $ of credit card debt.
In fact financial literacy is the goal of this program - don't see how that equates with working a trading floor.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:46PM
@7, the secretary bends over, spreads her cheeks and.......well you know....
Retarded idea! Financial literacy played no roll in the disaster. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing but didn't stop "screwing the pooch" until it was dead and rotten.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:48PM
I had no clue they could even read at Wilbraham & Monson
Let alone handle something this complex
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:53PM
Reminds me of a similar education program that was very successful:
Kramer: Dean Jones, you wanting to talk to me?
Dean Jones: I’ve been reviewing Darren’s internship journal. Doing laundry…
Kramer: …Yeah.
Dean Jones: …Mending chicken wire, hi-tea with a Mr. Newman.
Kramer: I know it sounds pretty glamorous, but it’s business as usual at Kramerica.
Dean Jones: As far as I can tell your entire enterprise is more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.
Kramer: And with Darren’s help, we’ll get that chicken.
Dean Jones: I’m sorry, but we can’t allow Darren to continue working with you.
Kramer: Well, I have to say this seems capricious and arbitrary.
Dean Jones: You fly is open.
Posted by girl , Jun 04, 2009 2:56PM
Let's be clear- this isn't 'opening up finance to the masses', it is allowing kids at a particular school to learn more about an industry into which the majority of them will- with near certainty- be entering after graduation from college. This is a boarding school after all- you learn how to balance a checkbook before you learn to do your own laundry.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 2:59PM
Wow - if this is how they teach "Madoff" lessons I cannot wait to see how the teach "Spitzer" lessons!
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 3:06PM
dumbest.idea.ever
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 3:08PM
I actually thought it was a day school. Most important thing boarding school teaches anyone: how to not get caught.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jun 04, 2009 3:12PM
@girl
So these prep school kids who're most certainly going into finance do their own laundry? I call bullsh*t.
Posted by girl , Jun 04, 2009 3:24PM
@ Anal My point is this: I don't think this is a wasted opportunity. We used to have pretty elaborate astronomy labs @ my school- who the f-- goes into astronomy anyhow? No one I know. The money would be better spent cultivating interest and knowledge in a profession that most people WILL go into at some point in their lives.
As for the laundry, there is a service. But they lose shit all the time, or give the boys your underwear by mistake. Better to do it yourself.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jun 04, 2009 3:56PM
@ girl
I think the point with the astronomy lab is 1) its cool (and expensive)
2. by virtue of #1, to convince more (any) kids to go into sciences
I'm pretty sure we don't need anyone else encouraging kids, especially that early, to because finance dbags (this, from a founding member of his HS's Finance Club, yay hypocrisy!)
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 4:00PM
25- actually I and most of my buds did our own laundry in boarding school as it was out of fashion to have your clothes pressed, which the school service insisted on...
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 4:05PM
@ girl,
It may be true that many of the school's alumni will enter the industry, but I feel that the school should not be endorsing such a career path. Learning how to be a trader is best kept on a trading floor rather than a school. Why doesn't this place have a medical lab?
And how do we know that the majority of the alumni will enter the finance industry in the future? I don't even want to be in this stupid industry anymore.
and...oh shit, MD walking by
Posted by girl , Jun 04, 2009 4:17PM
The sciences get ample coverage through the standard curriculum- usually biology first yr, followed by chemistry and then a year of physics. This isn't so much encouraging people to become traders as it is actually showing them what such a career is all about. On the contrary, for many students it may serve to expose the banality of it all. Either way, I don't see how exposing young adults to various industries can possibly be seen as a bad thing. Experiential learning is the way forward...
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 4:26PM
W&M is at best a third tier private school. I have nothing against private school kids as I went to Loomis, but W&M kids are hardly the next generation of business leaders.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 4:39PM
@31
HAHAHA. Very nice. Perhaps if we want to talk about career relevant, hands-on education, perhaps they should have a shoe-shining course.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jun 04, 2009 5:21PM
@girl
Agreed, but considering most people can't do the basic sh*t (math, science, english, history) very well, mixing in some "experiential" learning seems like learning to walk before learning to crawl.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 6:25PM
Good news, the teachers will be financially illiterate.
Posted by guest , Jun 04, 2009 9:54PM
The first thing they need to teach these kids is why there is no honor among thieves.