I just read the article regarding middle school students learning about the stock market by Carrie Wells ("A stock market primer," Feb. 9), and as a former social studies teacher and department chair in Baltimore County Public Schools for 37 years and now retired, I found it particularly interesting.
I agree that the financial literacy regulations adopted in 2010 by the Maryland State Board of Education are extremely important for the education of our young people. The Stocks in the Future class sponsored in part by Goldman Sachs, the Abell Foundation and Deutsche Bank is an excellent opportunity for young people to learn about the stock market and make some investments for their own future through the attendance and good grades rewards program. Wouldn't it be wonderful if more businesses could participate in this endeavor with our schools so that the number of schools and students participating could increase drastically?
A few points found in the latter part of the article bear remarking upon as a former teacher.
Laura Levine is quoted as saying that "it's a hard time to be introducing new content or new programs when the school environment nationwide is cutting back." She is right about that, and to take it a step farther, it is hard to fit the requirements of a financial literacy unit into an already jammed pack curriculum such as social studies and required indicators that are mandated to be taught.
Financial literacy is so important that it should not be squeezed into an already full content area. It should be offered as a stand-alone option so that it gets the full time and attention it deserves! Economics should start in middle school these days! Money should be put into teacher training/education across the board and a consistent approach to including the financial literacy program into our schools statewide should be developed so that the teaching of the new requirements would not be uneven. The teachers have been put in an impossible situation. It really comes down to how Maryland's Department of Education and school board choose to treat this serious content matter.
Bonnie Schneider, Baltimore