I started thinking about the days when I was at school. How I felt about education and maybe because I have been out of school for some time my impression of how it used may have has passed its expiry date.
So in one of B Smart's focus groups with a group of students I asked some vague and focused questions around fundamentals of the real world. Questions such as "If you were to rent a place where is the cheapest form of transport to where you need to go" and " If you received a bonus from your part time job or pocket money what would you do with it?". I can promise you that the answers that I was received were very alarming.
You have primary, secondary, and high school learners with no idea at all even where to start with something as basic as the standard commuting bus, Rea Vaya or even those new tuc tuc's. The answer to the financial questions were even more concerning. The general consensus was that we could try and get an instore card at one of the retail outlets and see how much credit we would be able to pay off. South Africa has a household-debt-to-income ratio of around 78%. The major banks have in the past said this figure should not exceed 36% of your total income. When I stopped the focus group for a moment and asked them do you know what debt to income is, 84% answered "No".
If this is not a huge warning sign for the current path that education is laying then we are truly not equipping young people for life. At the end of the conversation with this group I put into perspective that 60% of economically active people are unable to pay one or more of their debts. Their reaction was actually very positive. They went from saying they would look at taking out more debt to fuel the spree and looked at ways in which the money could be saved.
The principal here is simple. I don't believe that the Y generation is a "lost" one. I feel that they have just been left with methodology from 50 years ago. How are they supposed to know the most basic things when it is not being taught at school?
I believe that essential life skills need to be taught at school. How to open a bank account. What features in the bank you need to be looking for at different stages of your life. Where to find the cheapest form of transport and how to plan your schedule accordingly so you get to where you need to get on time. If I knew now what I knew back then I know that the banks would have made MUCH less money off me.
We must start teaching these things to young people. If we don't I am not sure where they are going to be in 20 or 30 years from now.
With this hindsight in mind, B Smart now provides additional layers of information for learners who want to understand more about the real world. Things that really matter like industries that are up and coming, financial education, social media etiquette guides and more. These are tools that might not solve an Algebra problem but they will give a far greater level of understanding to students about what to expect in life.
That has always been the key goal of the B Smart product range. To provide a cutting edge high impact education platform with highly relevant content that allows it's teachers, learners and parents to get the maximum benefit out of it now and in the future.
"No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated." - Nelson Mandela
