One of my most enduring memories from high school is that in almost every class I attended, it didn't matter what the subject was, there was always some smarty pants who would say to the teacher "I just don't see how this will help me later in life". Its funny how the teachers never really gave them a satisfactory answer.

What a great exercise it would be, to find out what exactly turned out to be useful from each class, and in which cases those troublemakers were right. In other words, what have I actually used to get ahead in life and which class did it come from? However, that exploration will be left for another time. There is one subject which would obviously be useful for anyone in any career or vocation, one that should be taught in every school, but for some reason never is. The subject is Financial Literacy, something we could all put to excellent use.

This subject "Financial Literacy" should teach you about the implications of making a bunch of decisions about your finances. From the simple things, to more complex things. The ultimate purpose of this subject should be to ensure that you are armed with enough financial knowledge, that you won't make the idiotic, financially ruining decisions so many people make every day. I'd see the curriculum running something like this.

Week 1. Are you being scammed? Students would be shown how to spot a scam and avoid it. It will prevent a variety of mistakes.

Week 2. How much can you borrow? This lesson would teach you to calculate how much money you can borrow for personal or business purposes, on a variety of mediums. This would include credit cards, personal loans, business loans and mortgages. It would mainly concentrate on cash flow issues, but also touch on the tax effectiveness of some of the different loans.

Week 3. What type of assets do you own? In this lesson, different assets would be explained. For example, an appreciating asset would be compared to a depreciating asset. Similarly a consumable would be compared to an earning asset. These assets would be compared over time, so you can see the impact purchasing different items has to your net wealth over time.

Week 4. Investment strategies. Any investment you take has a number of consequences and risk potential. Students will be given the tools necessary to tell what a risky investment look like. Also, when the signs point to a winning gamble, they should be ready to pull the trigger. Although it takes a good amount of courage and a little recklessness, great investments can turn a life around.

Week 5. How leveraging investments works. Getting into more advanced material, students will learn how investment portfolios use leveraging to their advantage. The tax breaks possible would be included in the discussion, giving students the ability to use the tax code to their advantage.

Final module. Coming to the end of Financial Literacy class, students would try and see the big picture. Laying out the biggest mistakes made by the young would be an excellent closing statement. Along with any cautionary tales, there would be a way to approach finances proactively. For the young, the advice given would be to work with what you have, and line up ways to increase your earnings without taking on high risks.